I have a passion about physics. Right from my introduction to physics at high school, the laws of the universe have always fascinated me. So it might not be surprising that I am a high school physics teacher.
Physics is not only my vocation but also my hobby. I spend all my spare time reading, trying to increase my knowledge and understanding of the subject. And this is where my problems started. My wife always complained that I spent too much time working and studying, and not enough time with her and our two children.
We had married early in life, and it soon became obvious that we had little in common. When the children came along this didn't change very much. I guess that I wasn't a very good father to them.
It might seem strange, but I loved teaching. I regarded the young minds that had been placed in my care as a challenge, and I always tried to inspire in my students enthusiasm for the subject. I guess that I had some success, as the students in my classes always achieved top marks in the school in physics.
Because my students had consistently achieved such good results, I was promoted to teaching the senior students at the school. This was quite a surprise, as I was only thirty at the time, and these promotions were usually made by seniority. However, I welcomed the extra challenge.
Students in their final year had an option of doing extra study and sitting for extra exams, to gain extra credits that are known as 'Honours' level. The required extra work including staying late after school one day a week, by both students and teacher. This extra workload was the last straw, as far as my wife was concerned. She took the children and moved to the other side of the country. I missed the children, but I didn't miss my wife's whining! I soon adjusted to living alone.
At the start of my third year of teaching senior physics, there were five students who wanted to study for the Honours level credits. Four of these were boys and one was a girl. I was pleased to accept all of them, as I considered that they were all capable, if they worked hard enough, of success at Honours level.
I was particularly pleased to have the girl, whose name was Cassie, in the class. I had taught her Physics each year since she had started at school, and each year she had achieved first place in her class in physics.
I suppose that you would have called Cassie a bit of a geek. I had never thought that she was an attractive girl. She wore glasses, and she always had her hair tied up in pigtails. And she was shy, so she didn't have many friends. But she was very bright, and she was a hard worker. I expected that she would get top marks in Physics in the senior class that year.
The Honours class met every Wednesday after regular school had finished, for extra lessons and lab work. In addition there was of course extra work to do each evening. Two of the boys soon tired of the extra work and dropped out of the class. The other two boys persevered for a bit longer, but by the middle of the year Cassie was the only Honours student left.
One Wednesday afternoon, Cassie was working on an experiment and I was sitting at my desk, marking papers. Suddenly I heard her cry out in pain. I rushed over to her, and saw that she had cut her hand on a piece of the equipment.
The cut didn't look to be too deep, so I took her to the staff room where I could put a dressing on it. When I had finished, I bent down and kissed her on the forehead, just as I used to do to my children when they had hurt themselves.
"There," I said. "All better."
Cassie smiled at me, and we returned to the classroom and continued with our work.
