" Hey Rach." "I'm on the way." " I think I want to do my paper on Roman death penalties." " Alright." "What's your argument?" " Well, the Romans were really good at killing people." " That's not exactly an analytical thesis." " I mean they invented crucifixion." "The way they killed their enemies was so bad ass." " And effective." " Right." "And uh..." " Spectacular." " But they didn't invent crucifixion." " The Romans didn't invent crucifixion per se." "It was the Persians, probably, or the Assyrians." "The Persian method entailed fixing the victim to either a tree or single upright timber, the so-called "torture stake,"" "with the feet hanging down freely." "Or sometimes, they would simply impale the victim on the stake, in much the same way we would impale an animal on a roasting spit." " Yeah, that would hurt." " Yes, of course the victim would die of internal injuries fairly quickly." "But the more traditional Persian method was... well, here, stand up." "Come on, up, up!" "That's good." "See, the hands were fixed over the head like so and the feet hanging free unsecured." "The victim's own bodyweight would cause the chest cavity to collapse in on the lungs, causing asphyxia, suffocation within hours." "Do you feel how it's already harder for you to breathe?" " Mm-hmm." " Now, Romans added the gibbet." "They stretched the victim's arms like so, probably dislocating the shoulders in the process, but they also added and this is the interesting bit, William." "They added a little piece of wood on which the victim could rest his buttocks and they secured his feet and the ability to rest and then even in excruciating agony, to use the legs to elevate the chest and breathe" "gave the victims hope and the victim's own will to survive increased and prolonged his suffering." "Death that once came in minutes or hours, now took days." "So you see, William, the Romans didn't invent crucifixion." "They perfected it." " Oh, excuse me, Dr. Hadley, am I interrupting?" " You said to come by at three to discuss my revisions, but no rush." " No, no, no." "Come in." "Come in." "We're finished here, yes?" " I just need to marinate on what you said." " Ruminate." "Unless you're aphasic." "Go." "Close the door on the way out." "Anna, sit." "I would say you made progress with your chapter, but I would be lying." " The Greeks and Romans held education above everything, except perhaps tribe, family, family honor." "The goal of the classical education model, even if not always the result, the reason they studied so intensely history, philosophy, literature, grammar, rhetoric, was to inculcate in the human being, the seeds of moral excellence." "See, they weren't just trying to make people smarter." "They were trying to make them better." " Thank you, Dr. Rhodes." " Thank you." " Well, you've got a year to prove that you're the right person for this job." "The visiting appointment is yours." " Thank you." " By the way, I really enjoyed your book." " Okie-Dokie artichokie." "Your copy of the lease." " Thank you." " And I'm sorry about the students." "In advance." " I would have gotten an A, but she said that my font was too big, so I didn't meet the page requirement." " Did you use an oversized font on purpose?" "I just think Bookman Old Style is sexier than Times New Roman." " It's one reason to choose a font." " Hi." " Hi." " Um..." "Can I put this here?" " It's not my desk." " I was told to ask for Jill." " Um, yeah, she's, uh..." "She's at lunch, Dr. Rhodes." "You're early." "Yes, I was just going to sneak in and leave a few things." "Nothing wrong with getting a little head start." " Last I looked, your office hadn't been painted yet." " We can find a place for that." " I'm Anna." "I read your book." " It was full of awesomeness." "How rude of me." "This is Anna, my preeminent graduate student." "We were in the middle of a meeting when you arrived." "Office." " Sure." " Welcome to my department, Dr. Rhodes." "I think we can put this somewhere safe." "You'll lock up when you leave, please?" " Of course, Jill." "Thanks." "The Dean called for you when you were in class earlier." " Great." "Thanks." "Good night." " Good night." " What, Jan?" " Oh please, have a seat." " I think I'll stand." " Fine." "You have a student named William Percy?" " If you're asking, I'm sure I do." " You apparently berated him with a long and graphic tirade about Roman crucifixion, unceremoniously threw him out of your office before adequately addressing his concerns about his term paper and then when you graded said term paper, added insult to injury by writing comments like," ""Your conclusion on this score is patently absurd."" " I was trying to teach him something." " By literally demonstrating the effects of crucifixion on his person?" "What, have the past five years in scholarly exile made you so miserable, that you are now taking out your frustrations on your students?" "Universities don't operate like they used to." " Will you get to the point, please?" " What's happened to you, Val?" "I know you have personal responsibilities" " And the problem with Mr. Percy is what?" " According to his mother, he's having nightmares about you and his anxiety level has forced him to start seeing a school counselor." " Well, I hope it helps." " Did you call him aphasic?" " His sister has a speech impediment and it's real and his parents are very important patrons of the" "This is the type of thing that can turn into a PR disaster." "That's where the money is, the very money that allows you to do basically whatever it is you want to do in your little fiefdom!" "Val." "How is your father?" " Nobody wants to teach summer session." "It's a way in, you know." " I'm just saying, if you can't get tenure, then what?" " Fuck the chair of the department, I suppose." "That worked for you, right?" " One of us should have moved out." "It wasn't all me, Ben." " No, you're right, Rach." "The losing the baby part, that wasn't you." "The rest of it was pretty straightforward." "You..." "I hate you do this..." " Shit." "Goddamn it!" "Fuck!" " Dr. Rhodes?" "Do you live here?" " No, I just-I burned my dinner, that's all." "I should, uh, get some clothes on." " Why?" " Morning, Pop." " I'm Val." "I'm your son." " Can we go for a ride in the T-Bird today and put the top down?" "You know, along the old beach road, past the Ferris wheel?" " Some other time, maybe." " Oh, not today of course, I know that." "You finish that degree yet?" " Indeed I did, Dad." " Hey there, good seeing you." " Whoa!" "Dr. Fletcher." " Just Fletcher, doctor, that's my dad." "Ben Rhodes, man!" "Fuck!" "How's it going, man!" "Good to see you, welcome to the insane asylum, man." "Yeah, you'll find the department, it's a gaggle of batshit academics." "They're self-important maniacs, and me, and now you." "30 seconds, I'm going to punch somebody in the face!" "Ha, ha, ha." "Hey!" "You got that book." "I want to hear all about it so we'll talk a little later on, right?" " Okay man, I'll catch you later." " Hey, can I get you something to drink?" " Sure." "What do you have on draft?" " A lot." " That." " Seems I neglected to invite you to our little soiree." " Ah." "I'm sure you have a lot on your mind." " Who did invite you?" " Dr. Hadley!" "Hey, Dr. Rhodes, you made it!" " Such a thoughtful little bug." "Where's your wife?" " She's not here." " Is she under the weather?" " No, she didn't come." "We're, we're separated, actually." " That wasn't part of the deal." "I'm teasing you, my esteemed junior colleague." " Dr. Hadley, might I have just one dance, please?" " Dear Anna, no, I have something of a headache." " Dr. Rhodes?" " You don't need my permission." " I don't dance." " Neither do I." "Come on!" "What?" " Nothing!" " What?" "The cat's out of the bag now." " I shouldn't." " All the more reason why maybe you should." "Ok." "What's the deal with him?" "Hadley?" "Don't tell him I told you this." "Don't tell him you saw me naked." "I didn't, doofus!" "His dad is sick." "He won't admit to it, but I think he's getting worse." "Dr. Hadley used to always, always, always be on campus and now he's missing office hours." " That's his problem." "It looks like it's kept him from publishing his new book." "He's always been sad, even before his dad got bad." "Come on, twirl me." " You got some moves!" " Hadley, why don't you join the party, son of a bitch." " Thank you." " Why here?" " The great Valerian Hadley, of course." "No, I'm just kidding." "A scholar of consequence doesn't have Visiting Professor next to his name on his book jacket." "A permanent position here would change all that." " Oh, so it's just about a title." " And it was far." " From your wife?" "I shouldn't be sharing intimate details of my personal life with a potential student." "You should take one of my classes sometime." " Sorry to blow up your fantasy, but I spend this summer in Rome doing the last of my dissertation research." "Next year writing and I am D-U-N, done!" "Must be a good feeling." " Yeah." " What are you writing on?" " Intruder alert!" "Bahahahaaa." "Hey sorry man." "Listen, about this book of yours, right?" "Now I know that Cambridge..." "mighty selective as to on any old piece of shit, that's what we're saying, right?" "So I promise I'll read it." "I want to read it." "I swear, I mean not this week or next month, but I will, I swear." " It's no big deal." " No, hey man." " Alright, gentlemen." "I'm taking it in." "It was educational talking to you, Dr. Rhodes." "Peace Fletch!" " Night Anna." "I know this guy who knows this guy who knows this other guy, got involved with a grad student in his department." "It's tenure track, all the bullshit bells and whistles, very subtle, still turned into a whole whack of shit." "There was a hearing, for fuck's sake, finally it over and he got a quite painful pay free suspension disguised as a sabbatical and that's not even reason number one why you should banish what's in your mind right now" "to a far the fuck away land." "Are you out of your fucking mind, man?" "Wait a sec." "You're married." "You little trollop." "Nice!" "Man, hey, do you want to smoke something?" " Oh come on, no, it's not pot." "No, it's something else from Dr. Feldman in the chem lab." "It's nice." "Come on, let's go outside." " I really shouldn't." " You're missing out." "Don't do it, man." " Morning sunshine." "How are you feeling?" " Anna?" " I had a lot of fun last night." "I mean the whole night, not just the-you know." " I'm a little hazy on last night, actually." " Well, I was up late at my computer and I heard you singing outside." " Yeah, that song from the bar, the one we danced to?" "When I found you, you had fallen in the parking lot, you could barely even walk." "Oh, fucking Fletcher." "Anna, I really" "I really appreciate you taking care of me." "It was really sweet, it really, really was, but this isn't right." "I'm sorry, you're a student." " Grad student." "This isn't going to get weird now, is it?" " Ohhhhh..." "Nooo..." "It's already weird." " You're real cute, though." "I didn't know you were coming to visit today." " Dad, I'm working now." " You're working too hard, from the looks of it." "I wanted to show you something." " What is it?" " Your grandson wrote a book." " Ben Rhodes?" "Ben Rhodes, you got a package." "It's got summer sausage in it." "Yum!" " Wow, that's formidable." " Yeah, who's it from?" " Whoa, sausage?" " Ah, my mom." "She thinks I'm off." " Well, does your basket have that spicy stone ground mustard in it 'cause that will pretty much fix anything." "It's like duct tape except it's mustard." "Oh, I think I see a jar." "Mary, I am so glad that I caught you." "Listen, I'm going to be out of the country for a couple of weeks and I was wondering if maybe you would check my mail, maybe set it aside or something." " Sorry, we don't do that." " Come on, Terry, please, I know it's last minute, but I've got conference notices and grants and post doc stuff coming in." " I know, but if I do it for you, then I have to do it for everybody." "So no, sorry." " Shit balls!" "I hate it when people say that." " I do it for you, then I have to do it for everybody." "You could just do it for me because I'm nice and you like me." " I can still hear you talking." " Love you, Terry!" " Hey, you going to Rome, right?" "Who cares?" " Are you feeling weird?" " So how many post docs and conferences did you apply to anyway?" " All of them." "Got to have a lot of lines in the water." " Just one in the right place." "Look, I could check your mail for you." " Mm, no, no, that's not what I'm trying to do." "You just feel obligated because we did it and there's plenty of other people that I could ask." "Am I taking advantage or am I at least being a pain?" " Just give me a fucking key." " Yes!" " Thank you for an enlightening first day." "See you tomorrow with your textbooks, please." "Please, please, pretty please, get your textbooks." "Thank you." " Dr. Rhodes?" " Yes?" " I'm Stephen." " Yeah, look, I won't be able to get my book for like a week or so." "See, my financial aid check hasn't posted yet and I won't be able to get the book or..." " Well, Stephen, you know, this is an everyday course over the summer, so it's going to be really, really difficult for you to get anything out of it if you don't have that book." " Isn't there something you can work out?" "I mean, maybe you can borrow the money from your parents or..." " I don't..." " Okay, I guess I might have some extras buried in the deep dark recesses of some box somewhere if I can dig them out." "Um." "Tell you what." " I think it's like $18.95 or something, I think." " $18.95." "$18.95." "Get your textbook." " Wow." " I don't think that's the word you're looking for." " Holy mokie balls!" "You scared me!" " I thought you were supposed to be in the air." " I was." "I mean, I am." "I just-shortly." "I just forgot some stuff in my grad office." "Imagine that, huh?" " Well look." "Have a great trip." " Anna, you have a plane to catch." " I do, I do." "Bye." " Bye." " I trust that when Anna returns from Rome, you'll keep your distance." "This is an important year for her." "She's rather easily distracted." " I hardly know her." " Don't insult my intelligence." " Hi Jill." " Hi." " The Latin verb, educo, educare from whence we get "education," literally means "to lead out."" "The question I want each and every one of you to think about for tomorrow is this." "Lead out what?" "See you." "Yes, Stephen?" " Yeah, I think have to drop this class." " Why?" " It's just, it's just a lot, you know." "I got a lot going on and this is just" "I've just got to drop, alright?" "I just got to." " Bring me a drop form during my office hours." " Alright, whatever, man." " Hey!" "Don't whatever me." "Just out of curiosity, why did you even take this course to begin with?" "I was just sitting around the house one night." "I flipped some channels and I found a show about Hannibal, you know, how he crossed the mountains with all those guys and elephants." "He knew he was going to take a hit, right?" "But he did it anyway." "He had fucking balls." "Excuse my cussing." "And he got across with not as many guys or elephants as he started with, but he kept winning and winning and I figured if Hannibal spoke Latin, I wanted to learn it too." " Hannibal didn't speak Latin." "He was Carthaginian." "He hated the Romans." "That's why he crossed the Alps." "You owe me 20 bucks." "Come on, man." "Oh, hi." " There's been a complaint, a couple of them actually, about the amount of homework that you're assigning in your Latin course." " Ok." " You're a little overzealous." " Oh." "The course is called intensive for a reason, right?" " Why are you getting defensive?" " Look, Val." "I don't know who complained, but the fact of the matter is, students here are woefully unprepared and under motivated." "I don't know how to say this, but the guy who was teaching the course before was obviously a little..." " Was what?" "Was... burned out, old, apathetic." " Exactly." "I think word has gotten around that Latin was an easy A." " And you're out to prove that that is no longer the case," " Learning a language, learning anything worthwhile shouldn't be some cakewalk." " Maybe you could consult with your fellow faculty members about what they're doing so that we're all on the same page with you, so I won't have to be bothered with carping and you won't have to account for low enrollment." " I'm not going to lower my standards, if that's what you're asking." " Oh, you will and you'll do so without my having to ask." "Do keep in mind that the student evaluations will be considered by the department when they decide whether to make your appointment permanent." "We should get a drink sometime." "I think that would be interesting." "Uh..." "I taught that Latin class last, by the way." "Not really, but I could have." "Maybe you should refrain from making value judgments about people that you know absolutely nothing about." " Nice spread you got here." "It's a little far out though, don't you think?" " Insulation by nothingness." "That's the plan." "Do not make eye contact with donkeys." "Trust me." " I'm stockpiling-nice shot- for the zombie apocalypse." " I thought you were the sane one in the department." "I'm the only one that knows it's really happening." "Do you hear that story?" "Seriously, man, that guy in fucking wherever who was eating that homeless guy's face, remember that?" "The cop showed up, shot the guy a whole bunch of times and he just looked up at him and fucking growled and went back to eating the guy's face." "And of course they chalked it up, they said it was drugs," "I've done enough and variegated drugs to know whatever crazy shit drugs make you do." "They do not make you eat somebody's face." "You tell me where the fuck we're headed." " Smoking and firing a gun at the same time." "That's not safe, is it?" " Is that a trick question?" "I can do it." " Look, I gotta ask you." "Hadley, he asked me out for drinks." "Is that weird?" " He asked you?" " Yeah." " Hadley asked you." " Yeah, that's correct." " Well, Hadley hates pretty much everybody, right?" "On the other hand, he is rarely intimidated" "I mean, he's the fucking cock of the lot, right?" "Better watch your ass." "Here, pop off a few with this?" "I'll set it on full auto." "Watch your finger, not yet, not yet." " DO IT!" " YEAH!" "SHIT!" " Yeah!" "Whew!" " I don't like it." " You missed." " No, really." " Oh, come on." "It's the cordite." " My shoulder hurts." " Yeah?" "Come on." " I'm going to let you take it." "You sure?" "Yeah." "Crazy shit in that." " I'm just going to watch you." " Yeah, just go ahead." "Maybe point that in the other direction." " Ha, ha, ha, ha." "What's that what?" "Baha, ha, ha, ha." "Safety first, man." "What do you think, I'm a fucking idiot?" " Don't you love summer?" "Any excuse to get wet." "Who are you?" " Ben Rhodes." "Classics department." " Sex or death?" "Which would it be?" " Both." "Always both." " I'm Stacy." "Polymer Science." " Let me guess, graduate student?" " Fuck you." " That was kind of rough." "I think liked it." " Where are you from?" " What, do I have an accent?" " What the hell is polymer science anyway?" "I know it's plastics, right?" "How do you teach plastics?" " It's science." "You don't teach, you show." " That's a postcard." " You don't say." " It's from, uh..." " Don't get cheeky with me, Rhodes, it's from Anna Densmore, yes?" " Yes." "Are you friends with Anna?" " We're acquaintances, I guess." "We see each other in the workout room a lot." "Sweet girl, Anna." "You guys have a thing?" "I'm just checking her mail while she's away." " It's no big deal if you do." "I don't have a problem with other women." "It can even be entertaining." "Kids, that's a different issue." " You don't like kids?" " Shit, you don't have any, do you?" "I usually ask before." " No-no, no, I don't." " It's not kids." "It's parents." "They get all shithouse insane about their children, don't they?" "Anytime I fucked a guy who had a kid, I regretted it and I'm not a regretter." "Well, I have to go." "Come find me in my office sometime." "Second floor, Polymer Science Building." "I've even got a window." " You know, I read your book before we hired you and I was struck by the clarity of its argument." "So much modern scholarship is muddy and mercurial and that was true of what I read from the other candidates as well." "Your book, however, is a circus feat." "It combines clarity, precision and accessibility." " Like "Sex and Death."" "Do you mean that or are you kissing my ass?" " Would it help my cause?" " That book succeeded because of its elemental choice of subject matter, as evidenced by the fact that nothing that I've written since then has been nearly as successful or as well received." "So you see, I gain nothing by kissing your ass, as cute as it is, so I hope you can appreciate the fact that I mean everything I say." " Ok, well... thank you." " For what?" "I'm a hopeless, idealistic and dying minority, my friend." " I guess that makes two of us." " Don't compare yourself to me." "So you're going to the conference this weekend?" " Uh, yeah, the old fall semester kickoff classic." " Don't fuck it up." " Ben Rhodes, Hank Milner, Fordham." "Your talk was extremely compelling." "The work you're doing on honor and shame, it feels so fresh, but at the same time, it's long overdue." "You know, I'm doing a talk tomorrow on Linear B" "I'd really like it if you could come by." " Yeah, um, excuse me." " A little avant-garde, I went with this one." " Yeah." "Hello, Ben." " What are you doing here?" " Well, it is an academic conference." "You don't think you'll get all those in the divorce, do you?" " It's not a conference that you've attended in the past, at least not as anything but my wife, which is how I know that you know, that I always come here." " Well, Ed does some work on Platonism and we wrote a paper together on Plutonic Influences on the Early Modern Rationalist." " You wrote a paper together." " Some of us are trying to move on with our lives." " What do you think I'm doing?" " Bro, what are you looking to do here?" " Did you just call me bro?" "Because you have graduate degrees, for fuck's sake." " I have, bro, believe me, because if I hadn't," "I'd slam your fucking face into this bar right now and not just for fucking my wife, but for showing up at my conference just to piss me off." "And by the way, between you and me, despite whatever lies she told you, we kept fucking till the day I left." "Cheers... bro." " Goddamn it, Ben, for somebody so smart, you can be pretty fucking stupid." " Thanks." "We should come up with names." " We're definitely having a boy because I need someone to inherit my..." " An heir." "Spell baby, B-A-B-Y." "Yeah, B-A-B-Y, yeah, you're on the right track." "Lawrence, James, it's an English name." "Brother of Jesus, for Christ's sake." "It's King James, right?" "Like rule the fucking world." " Fucked up the Bible and ruled the world." "I think Evan's growing on me." "Augustus." "I'm not sold." "And, after one of our favorite positions." " Jackson!" " I just can't believe you were making love to him while you were with me." " Ed, he was, he is, still technically my husband." " I know, but why can't you tell or share that with me instead of me finding out later?" "As far as I'm concerned, it's very irresponsible." " I understand where you're coming from." "I'm sorry." " Remember when we did that?" "You know, when you write something down... it's real." " Oh Christ, this is ridiculous." " Baby, don't do this." " You're an asshole." "Department of Classical Studies." "One moment, please." "Val, I have Don from Oxford Publishing for you." "Send him through." "Later." " It wasn't all that important." " No, it was a bomb threat, but it can wait till tomorrow." "It's not a big deal." "Goddamn it!" "Get me a number for Jack Wells at Columbia." "Shhhhhhh..shit." " Dr. Rhodes?" "Young man in a hurry." " Off to class." " I'll walk with you." " I'm so sorry I couldn't schedule a formal welcome meeting, you know a real sit down lunch over the summer." "You don't quite get to know somebody during the interview process." " It wasn't necessary." " Oh, my reputation precedes me?" "Never quite sure if that's a good or bad thing?" " Good, in this instance." " Well, if there's anything I can provide in the way of help or advice with the new semester upon us, do let me know." " One can lose his way very quickly in the current academic climate." "If I may offer a potential example, I processed an unusual number of drops for your courses during summer session." "Now you are a rigorous and tireless champion of the humanities, I get that and children are lazy, shamefully so, but know this." "I've been in the business of education a long time." "I stopped being an idealist a long time ago because education is a business." "That's the reality." "You want to be a champion of the humanities?" "You got to, forgive my crudeness, put asses in seats and keep them there." "You see, I have to justify our existence to a budget committee once a month and I accepted the sad fact that there's only one language that they understand and unfortunately, it's not Latin." "So you better get to class." " Right." " Right." " Honor, in ancient Mediterranean societies, it was more valuable than gold or silver, fighting men or even lands, but honor was believed to be" "There was only so much of it to go around." "To acquire it, you had to take it from somebody else to their shame." "Only those individuals who possessed power, resources or influence held honor and they were ready to snuff out utterly anyone who threatened to take it from them." "It's only through a firm understanding of this honor shame construct, that we can ever really appreciate the culture of the ancient world and everything that grew out of it." "Take the famous admonition of Jesus from Matthew 5:39:" ""If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn and give them the other also."" "In the ancient world, everybody was right-handed." "There was some not-so hygienic uses of the left hand, we won't go into." "To be left handed was to be cursed by the gods, corrupted, a complete outcast." "So, in a right handed world, you're going to strike somebody on the right cheek, you have to back hand them." "A dismissive gesture, the gesture a master would give to a slave, a shame inducing gesture, but if the victim turns and offers his or her attacker the other cheek, now the attacker must strike with an open hand," "as he would at evil." "You're still going to get hit, right?" "But now you're going to get hit standing on the same plane as the guy who's hitting you and that, folks, is why Jesus was so dangerous because he challenged people to claim their honor." "He dared to suggest, he dared to suggest, that honor was not merely the purview of the dominant powers, but in fact, was available to everyone" "everyone, that is, who was willing to claim it." "See you next time." " Hey, you!" "I don't think you're registered for this class." " You still have my mailbox key." " You're a key hoarder, aren't you?" " It's in my office." " Perfect." "Headed that way." " So you like what you heard, eh?" " I loved it." " That's great." "Because, you know, I'm very insecure." " I think you'll overcome that." " I loved the postcard, by the way." " Oh, you're thoroughly welcome." "Thank you for checking my mail." "Where is my postcard?" " Val, can you sign a grade change form?" " Mm-hmm." "Anna." " Dr. Hadley!" "I was just coming to see you." " My office is over here." "Remember?" " Hey, I know that we were supposed to meet this afternoon to talk about my chapter, but something came up." "Do you think that we could meet tomorrow at maybe 10:00?" " Sure." "From what I've read, we have a lot of work to do." " I can't wait to hear what he's going to say." "Kah!" " Writing a dissertation is really more about endurance" "At the end of the day, it's just about surviving." " Gratzie." " So, I have to ask." "Who's "J"?" "Sorry to interrupt whatever's going on here." "Anna, I need to make tomorrow 11:00." "I've got something that's going to keep me occupied till 10:30." "I wouldn't want to keep you waiting." "Department of Classical Studies." "11:00 is perfect." "See you then." " Ben, you have a phone call." "I'm sending it through." " Thanks, Jill." " I'll let you get that." " Ben Rhodes." "Mother, really." "Why are you calling me on my office phone?" " I'm just going to let you..." "I'll see you later." " You have an appointment in the morning with the doctor." "I'm getting you up early." " What's the doctor going to tell me that I don't already know?" " Why aren't you eating?" " I'm not hungry." "And why isn't your mother joining us?" " Mom is gone, Dad." " Gone where?" " Did you eat anything all day?" " I used to build things." " You were in construction." "Made a lot of money in it." " Did I build this house?" " You renovated it." "You rebuilt it, in a way." " It's so dark." "I'd like to go for a ride in the sun, down by the water or go down to the beach, get in the waves and maybe the fair will be open." "We can get cotton candy the way we used to." "Remember?" "You used to take us all the time." " You're not thinking about me, Dad." "I'm your son." "Now eat." "Here." "Have some more win." " You've been rather mean lately." "Is it your job?" " I'm Val, okay?" " Goddamn it, I know who you are." "Do you take me for a fool?" "I want to get in the water, you asshole!" "I want to get in the goddamn waves!" " Father, calm down now, come on." " God damn you!" "I want nothing." "Out!" " You'll do well to learn to control your temper." " It looks like you need only three more hours and you will have met your requirement for the major." " That's one course this coming spring." "I'm doing my course on Roman spectacles if you're interested." " So, that's going to be a lot on gladiators and stuff?" " Well not just gladiators, but also it's on Roman games and entertainment, athletic contests, wild beast hunts, public executions, theater and their contribution to the Roman ethos." "It's very interesting subject matter." " Awesome, but I was thinking of taking Dr. Rhodes' class on the Punic Wars." "Is that cool with you?" " Yeah." "Ah!" "Oh!" " I saw your girl today at the gym." " Come on, man." " She likes you." "I don't know why, you're a neurotic fucking idiot." " Did you say something to her about me?" " What if I did?" " I'm serious." "You're going to get me in trouble." "I mean, she's in my department and I have a career with your student." " You're impossible." " Accountability's a bitch, right?" " Accountability for what?" "I haven't done anything." " Get out of my chair." " Seriously." "Accountability, the very concept doesn't exist anymore." "I mean, I've spent my entire life neurotically trying to hold myself accountable and for what?" "I don't see anybody else doing the same thing." "Not my wife, certainly not my students." " And whose fault is that?" " The Romans had a practice called decimation whereby for a failure on the battlefield, the Roman General would order his men to cast lots and line up accordingly and every 10th man was bludgeoned to death by the nine before him." "Beaten to death." "Now, whether you're doing the beating or getting beaten, that's a pretty steep price for failure." " Hey, let's be here now." " Ahh, people don't give a shit because they don't have to." "Not only is there no steep price for failure anymore." "There are no repercussions at all, not unless God forbid, you don't have enough asses in your classroom seats." " Stop bitching, you fucking girl." " I think I have an ulcer." " You don't take that for an ulcer, dummy." "Here we go." " Where am I?" " In your bed, Dad." " Oh." "I have to go to the office." "I have a big job to bid on." " You sold that company, Dad." "Time to take your pill." "I built it-I, I wouldn't..." "I have a son to give it to." " It's time for bed, Dad." "Come on, take your pill, please." " Where is that woman that used to come around?" "Huh?" "Jan. Jan!" "She was good for you." "Where am I?" " You're in bed, Dad." "Come on." "Come on." "Goodnight." " It must be getting bad for you to call me." " There isn't anyone else." " Mmm, whose fault is that?" " I didn't call you so you could insult me." "I don't know how to" "I don't know how to proceed." " With your father?" " You steadied me, Jan." "It was like a fucking straightjacket sometimes, but you steadied me." " I think that's the first time I have ever heard you imply that you actually needed someone other than yourself." " Oh fuck you, Jan." "That's not what I said." " Yes you did and I loved you too." "I loved your family, your mother." "My mother, the little history teacher, the slave to sixth graders her entire career." "What a wonderful existence that must have been." " We both had other priorities." "We made choices." " Let's just stop talking, okay?" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry I wasted your time." "There you are." "There are far too many generalities here, insufficiently supported by evidence and citing modern scholars who agree with your conclusions is not enough." "And certainly not, if you don't point to and sufficiently examine the evidence that they present." "I mean, this is sloppy." "This is beneath you." " I understand, I'm sorry." " And don't apologize." "Where is the evidence that supports your argument?" " Okay, but for the purpose of this chapter, is there any real doubt that late Roman Italy was in a state of severe economic decline?" " You tell me." "This department paid for you to go to Italy, to read the manuscripts, to examine closely the material evidence." "Did you learn anything new or were you out site seeing" "I mean, what did the evidence tell you, because I don't find anything in this chapter that you could not have concluded by spending a couple of afternoons in our own library." " Well, that's a bit of an overstatement, don't you think?" " You must always anticipate the counter argument, Anna." "That's what you don't do." "You can't just jump to a conclusion without documenting supporting evidence." "You can't do that." "Do you expect the scholarly community to buy what you are selling simply because you asserted in colorful, crisply written prose?" "No, they'll make it their mission to tear you down and the fact that you're my student will make them even more eager to do so." " Have I done something to upset you?" " You need to get to work." "This needs to be priority number one, nothing else." "I want you to look over my notes carefully and bring me something of quality after Christmas break." " Hi." " Sorry to bother you at home." " Wanted to see if I could convince you to entertain a discussion about my dissertation." " What are those?" " You've seen these before." "These are death masks." " They're morbid." " How's that?" " Is this a Saint-Emilion Bordeaux?" " Yes, Chateau Canon la Gaffeliere." " Mmm, one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world, yes?" " Indeed." "The Romans started planting there as early as the second century CE." "What's interesting about this particular estate is it was built by the Comte de Malets-Roqueforts on the remains of a leper colony that was still in operation as late as the 17th Century." " What happened to the lepers?" "Hmm, this reminds me of a wine your mother and I used to get at a very small but eclectic shop near the pier, probably not as expensive as this but the perfect complement to your mother's lasagna." "Do you remember your mother and I taking you to the pier?" "You always wanted to go at night when the lights were all on, the lights of the Ferris wheel, or as you called it, the fairest wheel." " I don't remember that at all." " Oh." " Dad." "Dad!" "Hey!" "Are you alright?" " Ah." " What?" " I think I just passed gas." "You've never passed gas?" " Agghh." " We were supposed to be talking about your paper, right?" " You're sleeping with Stacy Castillo, right?" " Why do you ask?" " I know that you are." " Are you mad at me?" "Maybe-maybe I ought to walk you to your apartment." "Come on." " Is that your diploma?" " Yup." " Why is it in your closet?" " Ask me again sometime." " And that's where we hit the epic and I'm talking epic." "Homer was the biggest bad ass when it came to poetry." "I mean, we're talking seriously." "That is Mr. T, right?" "The Godzilla of the literature, this guy was the absolute best." "But listen, you guys get out of here." "Next class." "Achilles, versus Hector." "Steel cage match, loser leaves town." "You don't want to miss this one." "Be ready to rumble!" "Have fun, drive safe!" "Very compelling stuff, sir." " Hey, sorry if I was a little long winded," "Hey, you're just the man I wanted to talk to." "There's this brand new state of the art paintball facility that just opened up, okay?" "I know you were a little freaked out with the guns and they got the kick and the powder smell and all that kind of stuff's kind of scary, okay," "The thing with paintball, not like that." "There's no powder, there's no kick, nothing like that, alright?" "And pretty soon accuracy is- it's going to be critical." " This weekend maybe." " Yeah." "Fuck!" "Goddamn it!" "No, mother-I can't, I'm presenting, man." "The Archeological Association Conference, publish or perish and all that bullshit, right?" "We do what we got to do, but then we play paintball, not this weekend, next weekend and I'm going to fucking waste your ass too, I mean figuratively, not real, but I'm going to-alright?" "If you're on my team at school, then it's cool, but if you're not on my team, I'll fucking hurt you." "I mean not really, I won't really do that, but I get into it 'cause it's good." "Alright, have a good class." "I got to roll." "Catch ya in a bit." " See ya." " Dr. Rhodes, hey." "Next office hours and discuss my term paper." "You really made my last discussion paper bleed and I need to do better on this." " I hope I didn't do any permanent damage." " I can take it." "I've had Dr. Hadley, so." " Okay." "Well, um, what are you doing right now." " Really?" "Bad ass." " So, I'm thinking about Roman navel strategies and the way that it developed between first and second Punic Wars." " Victorian English excavators of Pompeii found themselves completely aghast at the hoards of sexual images that they found underneath the volcanic ash, from forearm size bronze phalluses, which the residents would hang in their doorways, to depictions of various sexual positions from the city brothel," "which would allow the customers to choose their pleasure as they would from a fast food value menu." " Dr. Hadley, I'm sorry to interrupt." " Regarding." " Your father." " Dismissed." " Mr. Hadley." " Yes?" "Marie, I am so sorry." " I'm just glad he came to my house before anything more serious could happen." " He was going around knocking on doors, asking people if they can give him a ride to pick up his father at work." " Dad, what did I tell you about leaving home?" "You have everything you could possibly need, right here." "Why would you leave home?" " I was looking for you." " You know I'm at the university." " You were so late in coming home." " Why didn't you call me?" " I didn't have a phone number." " Jesus Christ, Dad, it is taped to the telephone." " Mr. Hadley..." "I had an aunt, she went downhill pretty fast." "Don't want to tell you how to handle your family, you might want to think about a full time caregiver?" "Have a good day." " Excuse me, Officer." "Why the disclaimer?" "And then you did just that." "Why bother couching it as a disclaimer?" " Hey." "Just some free advice, that's all." "Well, I'll consider myself advised, then." "Thank you very much." "Dad?" " Ben Rhodes, you got a package." "Catch!" " Thanks!" " Hey!" "You still owe me 20 bucks." " Right, right." " What's with the fatigues?" " ROTC." "But not for long, not worth the education part." "Yeah, I'm just-I'm just going to enlist after this semester." " So you're just dropping out of school altogether." " Look doc, I mean this college thing ain't working out." "I'm just not exactly book smart, you know." "I mean, you saw the grades I got in your class, right?" "If I can't hack an intro to language class," "I don't stand a chance." "Hey look, I can't learn for shit, but I can shoot and the military's happy to have me." " I've seen you in my classes." " Hey look, I hope it's okay." "You know, just because I can't do the work, that don't mean I'm not interested." " It's fine." " Yeah, so I heard you're teaching a class on" "Hannibal the Carthaginian now." "All because of me, right?" " Well, it's not a course on Hannibal, per se." " Yeah, per se, right." " Hey, do you happen to know anything about paintball?" " Hell yeah I do." "I love paintball." " Let's talk." " Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters!" "Whoo!" " You work with this psycho?" "!" "Holy shit." " Hannibal did not have paintball guns." "But if he did, I would imagine this is how he would have used them." " Right." " Fish in a fuckin' barrel..." " Let's get the son of a bitch." " Ready?" "On cue, 1, 2, 3, let's go!" "Ahhh, grrr, errr..." " Die motherfucker!" "Goddamn it!" "Motherfucker!" " Told you I could shoot." " Wooooo!" " Bullshit." "How you like me now?" "!" "Total bullshit." " Question mark." "Big question mark, circle around it." "Big question mark, a whole family of question marks here." "Aagh!" "Nuggets!" " Okay, you're right, smarty pants I slept with Anna, I did." " Fucking knew it." "Before us, right?" " Uh, end of last spring term." "I was high at the time, I know that's no excuse." " Why now do you feel you have to explain yourself to me?" "You're free to fuck whomever you want." "I told you the deal." "Tricky with your job though." " Ah, yes, "the deal."" "How could I forget and yet, here we are on a date." " Ever had a pool cue shoved up your ass before?" " That's a bit kinky, even for you." "Why can't you just admit it." "You really like me, why don't you just say it?" "Come on, you'll feel better." " Nothing lasts, Ben." "I don't expect it to." "Whatever I can't feel or touch or smell or taste, right this second, it's pipedreams and promises and smoke and mirrors." "It's your shot." " I never told you... but I was going to have a kid, a son." "I lost him." " No." " No?" " Try again." " I don't understand." " Your chapter isn't there yet." "Because I went through and painstakingly addressed every single one of your notes." " Obviously, you didn't." "You'll have to go through it again." "I've made copious notes throughout." " In question marks?" " What?" "I guess I'm just going to go get to work." " Sit down." "I didn't dismiss you." "Tell me, do you want to learn something or are you interested in other things right now?" " What are you talking about?" " Do you want to throw away everything that we've done for some fleeting moment of carnal gratification?" " You're out of line." " Am I?" "First, you don't know what you're talking about." "Second, there's my work and then there's my personal life and you may be my mentor in one but you have no business" " That's where you're wrong because your work is your life and everything else is debris and distraction and you're a fool if you think that there's some distinction for you or anybody else." "What do you think, I'm a fanatic?" "I am a fanatic." "If somebody came to me and said, tomorrow that I could read the lost books of the Annals of Tacitus but I'd have to be crucified subsequently," "I would take that bargain." "I would take that bargain in a second because people come and go, but knowledge can never be taken away." " What about your own father?" " What did you say?" " Everything can be taken away." " I'm going to have to seriously consider whether you and I can continue working together." " Yeah, me too." "Ahhhh!" " Somebody needs you." "What happened?" "Want to talk about it?" "This place is amazing." "How did you find it?" "The Coronation of Charlemagne." " So... who's "J"?" " Julia was-is my sister." "She always wanted to be like the female version of Indiana Jones, not like stupid Laura Croft, like hard core Indy." "She wanted to teach and dig, find stuff, put it in museums." "She got leukemia early in high school, six months, she was gone." " These are Roman oil lamps." "What is this place?" " Heaven." " I'm sorry, go ahead." " Junior year, the year after, you know," "I had this really amazing AP history teacher," "Mrs. Bertolsen." "She was Julia's favorite." "I guess back then I thought there wasn't anything outside" "America, like I knew that there was because I had seen Raiders like a thousand times, but everything in school was, the American Revolution, the Civil War," "America's involvement in World War II, like they don't even try to tell you how vast and diverse the world is, but Mrs. B talked a lot about Greeks and Romans and she said there would be no "us" without them." "She had-she had this bowl, this bronze bowl on her desk that she got in Greece and it had Cleo on it, the muse of history-okay, you know-so it had Cleo on it and every day before class, she would take this bag" "of dry rice out from under her desk and she would sprinkle some grains in the bowl as an offering to Cleo and I thought that was so cool!" "Like before, I thought my sister was just this big nerd and then after, it was like history had this... fairy dust all around it." "And I'm geeking myself out!" "But, I owe it to Julia to get this degree." " This is pop-up puzzle, of the Vatican?" "Which is really weird and really cool at the same time." " I wrote to you in there." " What are you going to do about Hadley?" " Fuck Hadley." " Anna." "I mean, I wish it was and the fact of the matter is, you need him to get your degree." " Ben, no offense, but you don't know him the way that I know him." " Can I read what you have?" "I might be able to help." "You can read it on one condition." " Why do you keep your diploma in your closet?" " Ahhhh... of your soul to get one of those pieces of paper, right?" "I mean, if you really earn it." " So you keep yours hidden in the closet?" " I mean, who else needs to see it but me?" "The only reason I keep it at all is so that every morning when I grab my jacket and walk out the door," "I'll be reminded of what it cost and maybe I'll be motivated to use it to do some good." " Paahh!" "Approved!" " Do you really want to know what I think?" "Okay." "One more!" " Fucking genius!" " Thank you." " Hey, loopty loo." " Hey, you." " I got you the paper." " Oh, great." " How do you take your coffee?" " Half and half." " Mmm, hmm." " So, I know that we both have a lot of work to do today, but I was thinking that work goes down a lot smoother with..." "Da, da, da, da!" "Bloody Marys!" " I love a good Bloody Mary." " I know." " Uh, I need to make a phone call." " Right now?" "!" " I'm here for an interview, Department of Philosophy and Religion at Harkin just up the road." " I know where it is." "How's my dog?" "What took you so long?" " Do you remember our dream, teaching at some respectable little liberal arts college by a lake, smaller classes, motivated students, a place where humanities is king?" " What's wrong with the job you have?" " After you left, I was late." "I started worrying." "Holy shit, what if I'm pregnant again?" " Would you even have known who the father was?" " I told you, I always used condoms with Ed." " I'm just saying it would have changed things, wouldn't it?" " For you, maybe, not for me." " I was angry and I got caught up in it and you weren't there." " Where is your signature?" " Did we make a mistake, Ben?" " What are you going to do if they offer you the job?" " What do you suggest I do?" " Same thing you always do, Rach." "What's best for you." " Ben?" "It's not what you write down that's real." "It's what you do in the end." " Coffee's on me." " Dad?" "Goddamn it." "Dad!" "Come on, coffee's ready." "Hello!" " Hey, guys." "Did you hear?" " Hadley's dad." "Yeah, he found him this morning." " Yeah, and to make matters even more upsetting, he actually came in, so tread gracefully." " Ah, shit." " I said things to him." " What happened to "Fuck Hadley."" " I was mad." "I was venting." "I feel like I should do something, some gesture." " So do something." " Mr. Hadley?" " Yes." " My condolences, sir." " Mm-hmm." " I'm telling you, you've got to do what I do, right?" "I post them all around campus for my classes, make them up myself, kind of a comic book thing." " It's embarrassing." "My classes are full to the brim." "Yours are..." " Dr. Rhodes." "I didn't know you had a visitor." "May I see you in my office right now?" " Dean Messer, you deign to walk among us mere mortals?" " Go fuck yourself, Fletcher." " Have fun." " I'm disappointed to do this, but this is a formal warning." " I don't understand." " Well, understand this." "I have received a report that you have been seen in private with a student in your department and that you are involved." "That's all I know and that's all I want to know, but if I find out anything definitive," "I will terminate you immediately." "So I suggest whatever's going on, you put an end to it." "In this day and age, even the scent of impropriety between a faculty member and a student, it jeopardizes all of us and the prestige of this university." "Do I make myself clear?" " Yes, ma'am." "May I go?" " You may go." " She was the secretary at his construction office." "She actually cares that he's gone." " I'm here, Val." "Okay?" " Why are you asking me?" " Because you're my friend." " I'm not your friend, Ben." "We fucked and we don't even do that anymore." " What does that mean?" "I've been preoccupied, okay?" " With Anna, with Hadley, with trying to do my job, trying to make a future here, maybe find some peace of mind." " And fucking keeps you from doing that." " I just thought you might have something to contribute, you know, some piece of advice, primarily what to do about Hadley." " Do nothing." "He ratted me out to the Dean and you know he's not going to stop there." " He didn't rat you out, Ben." "I did." " I mean, I didn't think she'd go all formal with it." "I thought you didn't give a shit who I see, what I do." "You're so fucking liberated!" "You came and got me that day, with Anna in the workout room." " Because that day, it was the right thing to do." " Ah!" "Fucking Judas!" " Because I do give a shit, goddamn it." "I care about you." " You care about me?" " More than I want to, believe me." "That doesn't change a fact, so fuck you very much and get the fuck out of my pool." " You care about me." "Is that what you just said?" "You care about me." "Stacy!" "But you're too busy pissing and moaning and pouting, that you don't even know what's good for you or who." "Do you think you're the only one who ever got a shit hand, Ben?" "It's called life and guess what?" "It happens to everybody." " Aah!" " I should have gone to the wake." " Jill arranged it so the big day would be today." " What about us?" " What about us?" " A glass of wine, please." " I've got a little marijuana in my back pocket and I'm willing to share." "Hey." " Hey man." " Hey Anna." " Hey Fletch." " I hate this." " What's that?" " I hate it, death, man." "It sucks balls, man." "I don't know what the fuck to say to somebody." "That and it's fucking Hadley, right?" " Can I have a vodka tonic." "Do you want something?" "Hey, do you want something?" " No thanks, no right now." "Excuse me a second." " How's she doing?" " Eh..." " Make sure you get something to eat." "There's a lot of food over there." "Good stuff." "I always like to take some shit home." " Dr. Hadley..." "I'm sorry." " Thank you, Anna." " Val, do you want to say something?" "You should say something." " Um, sure." "We'll talk a little bit later." " Excuse me, everyone." "Everyone, excuse me." "Val would like to say a few words." " Uh, thank you." "Thank you, all of you for being here." " I think I'll have that drink now." "In my profession, we talk to audiences for a living." "There are some among us who love to hear ourselves talk, but in those personal moments when we ought to have something truly profound to say, we so often fall short." " I know that Val and his father are very grateful for your presence and for your continued thought and prayers." "I'm just gonna sit here, thank you." " I think I'd like to stay and help clean up or something." " You don't have to do that." "You're overcompensating." "Jill's here." " I think Jill's done enough." "Just give me an hour." "What do you think happens when somebody dies?" "Wow." "Um, that's hard." " I mean, do you think we go on?" " Yes." "We just don't know whether or not we know it." " I've been doing a lot of work recently on the" "Roman Cult of Ancestors and they take the death masks of deceased relatives and put them around their house and they celebrate them nightly and not just as a measure of remembrance, but as a petition for protection because where the dead are remembered," "they remain alive and connected to the living." " Yeah." "It's a beautiful notion." " Thank you, Anna." "I'm, um..." "I'm very glad that you're here," "that you chose to stay with me." " Dr. Hadley." "This is not why I stayed." " Why are you so bent on disappointing me?" " And why is your first instinct always to apologize?" " I want you here with me." "I want you." " Hadley." " Do you understand?" " Let go!" "Let go of me, now!" "What do you want from me?" " I would give you everything I have." "Everything!" " Let go of me!" "Dr. Hadley." " I'm here to get Anna." "Where is she?" "Anna!" "Anna!" "Are you okay?" "Oh my God." "What did he do to you?" "What did he do to you?" "Anna?" "What did he do to you?" "Hey!" "Son of a bitch!" "I'm taking you to the hospital." " What do you mean, no?" " It's not important now." " It's not important now?" "What the fuck are you even saying?" " It's not what it looks like." " It's not, really?" "Well, what is it, then?" " Stop!" "Don't stop." " He hit me." " He hit you?" " And, I don't know, can you just drop it?" "Take me home." " No, no, no!" " I'm not going to the fucking hospital!" " Don't stop." " Anna, please." "Just tell me what happened." " I'm asking you, please take me home." "Come in." " I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to say there's some really great stuff here." " Ben." " Don't say anything." "The thing is..." "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry I left you there." "I should have protected you, Anna." "I didn't." "I know why you didn't want to go to the hospital." "I get it, as much as it fucking pains me to say it, you were right." "You were right." "Sometimes the only way to keep moving forward is to stand stock still." "Everybody's got everybody else fucking hamstrung." "Sometimes- sometimes there is no escape." "Sometimes there is only to endure present woes or Jove will make an end of this also." " Oh my God, I hate Vergil." " See, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what happened, really." "You are just as beholden to him and to the system as you were before." "Sure, you could make it so." "He'd lose his job." "The result of that being you would never get one." "But if you want to do this, if you want to be a historian, for Julia, for you, for whoever, whatever reasons," "then you... we, we have to, fuck, even he has to," "you have to swallow it, stomach it" "and go on." "Finish." " And?" " And look for something better." "And wherever you go, it should be way the hell away from here." "Remember what this cost and be excellent in spite of it." " What will you do?" " I don't know." "I can't stay here." "Maybe I'll go and work on a dig somewhere and just breathe the air for a little while, you know." " Can I ask you something?" " Yeah." " Why do you get to run and I don't?" " Because of that stupid piece of paper in my closet." " Dr. Rhodes." " Stephen." "It's long past my office hours." " Sorry to bother you." "I saw that your light was on." " What can I do for you?" " I just want to thank you." "That day of paintball, I realized something." "It don't matter if you're in Latin class or playing with fake guns, right?" "Or somewhere off firing real ones and worrying about stepping on a landmine, you're still you and you can never get away from that, you know, but you might be able to be you, being Hannibal and that's pretty bad ass." "I'm coming back to school next semester." "I was going to say, I'll take your Latin class." "Doing some remodeling or what?" "I'll see you around, doc." " That looks painful." " I tripped and fell from too much wine." "That's what I told the Dean at least." "Should I call campus security?" " I think we can agree this is quality work." " It won't always be this easy." "I used to be you." " I know." "Now..." "I'd like to talk about the permanent position." "You look like my auntie's soap dish, man." " It's my understanding that zombies are less likely to eat you if you wear bright colors." " See, now you're thinking, right?" "Great news about Anna, huh?" " She got accepted, that post-doc program at the Academy in Rome." "Gold star for us." "Paintball this weekend." "I still owe you a nice fat ass cheek whelp." " Dr. Rhodes, hey!" "Next year I'm going to be in the grad program and you got me in." " You got you in." "Your work got you in." " The thing is, I'm going to need a graduate advisor." "It's between you and Dr. Hadley, but please, tell me you're going to be here next year." "Dr. Rhodes?" " Yeah." "I'm going to be here." " Rock on." "I was thinking about... you know, life." " Is this Dr. Rhodes' class?" " You're going to need a bigger classroom." " Dr. Rhodes?" " Those flyers we all handed out, we actually ran out." " Okay." "Welcome back to the ancient world." " Hey Rhodes." " Take me to bed, but take me to dinner first, I'm starving." " Remember where we parked?"