Story note: This is a rather long story.
She stepped off the plane into the brisk fall wind. It was September only, and this was such a change from what she was used to. She grabbed her carry on from the steward at the bottom of the stairs with a smile. Stupid puddle-jumper plane was so small her carry on hadn't even fit in the overhead. She walked across the tarmac to the small regional airport, shivering in the cold wind. The little Saab plane had been a bumpy ride, which kept her awake the whole flight from Toronto. She was looking forward to getting to the place the school was putting her up in while she settled in. Thank god, she had found a teaching job. There was so little demand for Philosophy professors she thought she was going to have to go back to teaching high school physics. Not that she minded teaching physics, but it wasn't her main interest. The offer to teach at a small Canadian school arrived as she was finishing up some research work at the Physics library that her thesis advisor had arranged. Interesting stuff, well to her at least – trying to figure out if the lack of a German bomb was really just a mistake or purposeful.
She opened the door to the airport and walked through the metal detector to get inside, dragging her carryon behind her. When she got in, a varied group of people was waiting, mostly parents and grandparents greeting visiting children and grandchildren. She took a deep breath of the warmer air; thankful she had at least packed a warmer jacket in her checked baggage. It had been a warm early autumn day when she left the Baltimore- Washington airport. Now here it was cold, so much colder and so far from her old school. No this wouldn't be anything like the University of Maryland, but it was a teaching job and she couldn't be fussy. She spotted someone holding a sign, some poor graduate student no doubt. Yes, she used to get the airport greeter job a lot too. She walked over to the young man, "Hello, I'm Doctor Phillips."
The young man jumped, he had been staring at some young girl behind the ticket counter who had been smiling back, but he quickly held out a hand, "Oh great. I'm glad your flight beat the storm coming in. I'm supposed to bring you to campus. They are having a small welcome party in the department and all."
She nodded, "Of course, informal gathering do you know?" When he nodded she continued, "Would you mind waiting a moment? I'm going to step into the ladies room and freshen up for a moment then while they unload the bags." Not giving him a chance to object, she dragged her carry on past some giant stuffed bear and into the ladies room. She frowned when she looked in the mirror. It had been a sixteen-hour flight with the customs and the layovers in Minneapolis and again in Toronto. She looked exhausted, probably because she was. Oh well, they had paid for the ticket. She had to go and be at their little welcome party. She pulled her hair out of the scrunchie it had been in and ran a brush through the slightly longer than shoulder length tresses. Her hair had always been straight, very boring, but it was a nice color at least, a soft brown with a bit of red and copper to it. She wore just a hint of eye shadow and some lip tint. She had never been one for too much makeup, and never one for enough makeup if you asked some people. She took off her glasses and put in her contacts over her hazel eyes. After straightening her white sweater and her olive khakis, she nodded, good enough. Her camelhair coat and cute low cut boots made her almost presentable. The heels on the boots brought her up to about 5'8" and she did work out, probably should work out more, but reading Kuhn and running on a tread mill just did not go hand in hand. Oh well, she wasn't going to lose those last five pounds in the next five minutes so might as well head out.
She grabbed her bag and went back out. People were grabbing their checked luggage now so she did the same. She had brought three bags, actually had to buy more luggage for the trip. She handed two of the bags to her student escort, "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."
He smiled as he took the bags, "Oh Doug Wilson, I'm with the Math department. I TA for Professor Ivans." He started to lead her out to the parking lot in front of the small airport.
As they left the building, she looked around. It had gotten colder it seemed, and the clouds were looking more ominous. She shuddered a bit as they approached a Dodge Ram. She hated being on small planes in storms; thankfully, she had gotten here before the bad weather hit. They threw all four bags under his truck bed cover and she hopped up into the passenger seat. Professor Ivans was the co-chair of the Math department; they were closely affiliated with the Philosophy department here. In fact, until her arrival all the logic classes had been taught by the Math department. As Doug got into the drivers seat and started up the diesel engine, the radio came on and started playing 'Red Rag top'. She smiled to herself, it seemed every time she got into a vehicle that song was playing.
Doug looked over as he shifted the truck into first, "Is country all right with you?" She nodded, and he continued on, giving her a pseudo tour of the town as they drove through it. It was definitely not much more than a college town – the standard dinner, the 'mall', and the movie theater. Soon they were approaching the school. He drove a bit through campus on his way to where hey were going; since it was still before fall semester, the campus was pretty deserted. They pulled up to the student union, parking in a reserved for faculty spot. "Here we are. There is a faculty area on the top floor."
She nodded as she hopped out of the truck, the heels of her boots clicking on the concrete. "Thank you." She followed him in through the deserted student union, occupied by only one bored student sitting at the info desk reading what from a distance appeared to be some cheesy romance novel. They stepped into the elevator and Doug pressed the button for the third floor. As the doors shut and the elevator started to move, she had to stop herself from nibbling on her lower lip. It was one of her annoying nervous habits: that and nibbling on the ends of her hair, but she tended to keep her hair up to stop that one.
As the elevator doors opened, Doug led her farther down a hall to a large wood double door. Conversation could be heard form the other side of it, which got louder as he opened the door for her. It was pretty much what she had expected -- a bunch of professors sitting and standing around round tables sipping punch and eating finger food. She started to think that maybe this welcome reception was just an excuse for them to take a small break from getting ready for fall classes. Inwardly, she was very happy that she had had the summer months to get ready instead of teaching any summer classes. She had three classes, an intro to Plato, and two lectures of Symbolic Logic. She was ready. She was ready for class, what she wasn't ready for was this. She was always so awkward meeting new people and here were a lot of new people.
Doug walked up to a rather tall gentleman in a gray wool sports coat. She followed having no better idea of what she was supposed to be doing. "Professor Ivans, this is Professor Phillips. He smiled as he introduced her to the older gentleman. She wasn't sure how old he was, at least in his 50s, but not old enough to be retiring yet. He had very neatly kept gray hair with just a hint of some brown still in it.
His eyes twinkled, a soft brown, as he held out a hand, "Doctor Phillips, wonderful to finally get a chance to meet you. I had been guest lecturing in Quebec when you had visited the campus this summer. He smiled as he shook her hand "I am very glad that you are freeing up some of my staff by taking over two of the logic sections actually." He laughed a little, actually a very relaxing sound, "I suppose Dean Martin explained you'd be staying at my guest house while you get situated here?"
She nodded; all the information had been included along with her tickets and work visa information. She smiled at the professor; he seemed very sweet. The ring on his finger caused her to hope that she could enjoy some good food too. She hadn't ever really learned to cook, well anything more complex than breakfast. She tended to just charge up her student ID card and eat in the cafeteria. That or she would just forget to eat and end up at the 7-11 at 2AM. "Yes, she said your guest house was very lovely as well."
He nodded and smiled, "So people tell me." He turned to Doug handing over some keys, "Could you put the Doctor's bags in my car please? I was hearing it was going to rain so thought it would be better to do that now than after the party"
As Doug nodded and ran off, Professor Ivans lead her around. Soon she was chatting with most of the Philosophy/Religious Studies department as well as a few people from Computer Science and Physics. Shortly, everyone was on a first name basis. Once she had politely explained this whole 'professor' thing was still so new to her that she kept on thinking they were talking to someone else, no one in the department had a problem switching over to her first name. Towards the end of the conversation as a crack of thunder could be heard, Professor Ivans … or Robert … said, "Ahh, Doctor Phillips, I mean Anya, If you would like to leave and get some rest, I am sure it was a long trip all the way from Washington DC."
Anya smiled, "That would be wonderful, as pleasurable as this has all been, I am on a three hour time difference." She followed him, saying goodbye to a few people as they headed out the door and to the elevator. When they reached the door to the parking lot the rain was coming down in a torrential cold down poor.
Robert took a glance out the door, "Stay here, I'll bring the car around." He seemed to think nothing of the chivalrous gesture as he darted out without even a coat to his car.
When she saw how close it was she smiled, she could have made that jog. Heck, she had walked in much worse. The train for the metro rail had stopped a good mile from her work this summer, and with the hurricane season, even that far up the coast they had had some very wet days.
Robert pulled his Ford Taurus up to the door and leaned over to open the passenger door form the inside as she darted to the car. As she closed the door she laughed, "I hadn't realized exactly how much colder it was going to be here than back in Maryland." She shook out her damp hair, oblivious to how her sweater had gotten damp enough to cling to her chest a bit. She also didn't notice Robert trying not to notice, or the awkward pause in the conversation.
Robert started making small talk; soon they were talking not about the school in general but about math. Anya smiled to herself. It always came as such a shock to the science types at schools when they found out how much science some liberal arts people knew. When she started to talk about her research this summer she knew she had managed to go from another liberal arts person in his mind to someone who might understand things. By the time they reached his place slightly out of town, she was nodding as he described what he was doing. A few things she needed explained, but for the most part, she could follow along. Understanding the philosophy of science and the history of it had proven to help her understand science itself very well. At least well enough to handle a conversation in a car more than well enough.
