As she walked back into the office carrying a cardboard box with the books Dan had been waiting for, she noticed him still holding the documents she had given him in their labelled file folder and smiling broadly. “Is everything o.k. as written?” She asked.
“It’s perfect, Katie. You’re wonderful. I’m amazed you could actually make out everything I wrote without a single question. I don’t know if I could have done that without guessing. But you got it all right.”
Katie responded, “No biggie. I could make out anything that was unclear from the context. Your writing is not that bad—I’ve dealt with much worse.” She responded, blushing slightly. “So, what should I tackle next?”
“Just take a bit of a break while I finish the first syllabus. Now that I have the books it won’t take me long to do these since I know the subject matter very well.” Dan answered.
“Time goes too slowly if I just sit here like a lump on a log. I’ll do some organizing of the filing cabinets if that’s all right with you. I noticed a lot of files don’t have labels and some just seem to have been thrown in without any thought as to organization.”
“Suit yourself. But feel free to go get yourself a cup of coffee—of just take a break” Dan replied.
“No need. Just let me know when you’re ready for me to type the syllabi as you finish them.” With that, she set to work on the files that Dan knew could use reorganizing. He smiled as he surreptitiously watched her getting on her tippy toes to reach the tallest file cabinet drawer.
“What are you smiling at,” she asked while she continued working.
“Oh, just thinking about tomorrow. I have a great deal to do, but I don’t know what I’d do without your help. I really appreciate having you here. You’re quickly making yourself indispensable.” He looked at her as he said that and noticed her blushing again. Then he felt guilty about embarrassing her and felt his own cheeks grow warm, hoping she did not notice. If she did, she said nothing.
For the next two hours, Dan worked diligently and completed the syllabus for “Word Processing Applications Using WordPerfect,” “Spreadsheet Applications Using Lotus 1-2-3,” “Database Applications Using dBase III,” and “Using MS-DOS 2.0.” Each syllabus represented a stand-alone module with detailed learning objectives and week-by-week readings and exercises from the required textbooks he adopted for use in each course. Although he had never done anything like this before, he was guided by the materials included in the two programs accepted by SED but with much greater attention to detail than was contained in the latter. Katie dutifully transcribed each syllabus as completed and added a cover page titled “Appendix A: Course Syllabi” per Dan’s instructions. She then printed and filed each in the folder she had created for Dan’s use. By the time she left for the day at 5:00 p.m., the work had been completed and Dan felt good about the first draft of what would be the SED application.
Before leaving for the day, Dan made the last of what had become his usual rounds, strolling through the hallways on both floors and looking in through the picture windows as his faculty taught their classes, making mental notes when he noticed particularly engaged students and instructors and when he noticed obvious deficiencies, such as classes with generally inattentive students or ineffective instructors like Vanessa Hunter, yet again sitting at her desk reading a book as her students apparently worked on some assigned project, talked to each other, or engaged in other obvious non-educational activities. There was an unmistakable pattern here he would address next week after his formal observation of her class.
At exactly 6:00 p.m., he left the office, walked next door to the parking garage, got into his car and drove to his girlfriend’s home to pick her up for the shopping trip for tomorrow’s lunch preparations. A little more than a half hour later, he arrived at Linda’s Woodside home after navigating the rush hour traffic on Queens Boulevard and on the side streets. He found Linda waiting for him outside, sitting on a lawn chair in pressed light-blue jeans and a white cotton short-sleeve blouse, reading a book. She looked up as he drove into the driveway and gave him a broad smile, rising to meet him. They hugged and kissed, and Dan was pleased to see her bright, beautiful hazel mood-eyes were again mostly green today with a deep blue outer ring in her iris—a sign she was happy. They got into his red Mustang II and he backed out of the driveway, saying “I thought we’d go up to Roosevelt Avenue to my favorite Italian Deli and Italian bakery for the cold cuts, bread and pastries, and the fruit stand on 61st Street for salad fixings,” Dan suggested.
“You could do one-stop shopping at Pathmark on Northern Boulevard or at the Jackson Heights small shopping center on 76th Street and 31st Avenue. You’d save money too,” she replied.
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“No, I want the best cold cuts and bread. But we can go to Pathmark or Waldbaums for the rest of the stuff—that’s a good idea. I’ll need paper plates, cups, napkins, plastic forks, and soda too in any case. And I can get the salad fixings there too.”
“Do you still intend to make the sandwiches tonight? They will get soggy that way if you put lettuce and/or tomato in them as you usually do,” she warned.
“I don’t have much choice, do I?” Dan answered as he stopped backing down the driveway to look at her.
“What about getting all the fixings and preparing them tonight but holding off on actually making the sandwiches? Instead, you could go tomorrow morning on the way to work and get Italian bread, French bread or the freshly sliced specialty breads and rolls of your choice at the bakery and let everyone make their own sandwiches with the oven-fresh bread. You’d just need a salad—I’d suggest getting Romaine or a mix of salads we can wash and chop up tonight and put in gallon Ziplock bags you can later transfer to a large plastic bowl at work. You can then buy a couple of different salad dressings and maybe some cherry or grape tomatoes and be done quicker, easier and have a fresher product that way. Some potato salad and maybe macaroni salad or coleslaw would be nice too—buy it pre-made,” Linda offered.
“I wanted to take a variety of sandwiches pre-made but that may be a good idea. I didn’t think about the bread getting soggy and stale in the fridge overnight—and tomorrow in the cooler until lunch time.”
“You have another issue you probably did not consider, too. Making hearty sandwiches with fresh Italian or French bread as you intended will give you a problem both for overnight storage and transportation tomorrow. Everything won’t fit in your cooler—and I know you won’t have room in your always full fridge for twenty or so sandwiches. You can’t leave them out once made—they’ll spoil,” she added.
“I had not thought of that either. You’re right.”
“That’s what you have me for,” she quipped smiling as Dan blushed in embarrassment at not having thought through any of these obvious issues. “I suggest you get maybe a dozen rolls and a fresh large peasant bread freshly sliced at the bakery, and maybe one of their large Italian loaves sliced as well. That will make it easier to transport and the bread will be fresh and delicious too and won’t make a mess like slicing it onsite will. You can then put the bread in a couple of large plastic or aluminum serving platters along with the cold cuts in similar platters. We can buy a large plastic salad bowl that you can put the salad into with the cherry tomatoes, croutons and anything else you like at work and let each person serve him/herself. Keep in mind you’ll need to also get a large bag of ice for the cooler that can serve to keep the perishables cool until lunch time and then put the ice in a plastic container for whatever water, juice or sodas you intend to get.”
“Geesh,” Dan exhaled. “I should have just ordered Pizza.”
“My little Laputan,” Linda retorted with a mischievous smile.
“Huh?” Dan replied, missing the reference.
“Remember Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels? The Laputans? People who live in a flying island, lost in their lofty meaningless projects to do anything useful, or even look where they’re going and falling down holes to their death?” She cocked her head and offered him another wry smile. “Sound like anyone we know?” She added.
“Oh, the burdens of us intellectual types,” Dan responded in his best affectation of an English accent with a disdainful, pompous, tone. “You Lilliputians with your small minds and small-minded ways could not possibly ever comprehend . . . Ouch,” he yelped as she smacked him hard on the shoulder.
“Drive,” she commanded in fake exasperation, “Before I tie you up and leave you on the lawn to ponder your evil ways overnight.”
“Yes ma’am,” Dan replied, once again engaging the clutch, shifting into reverse, and gently pulling out of the driveway.
They drove to Dan’s favorite deli about a quarter of a mile away on Roosevelt Avenue and 63rd Street, and Dan parked only a half block away, grateful to find a rare spot at a meter. They bought Prosciutto, Turkey, Salami, Swiss Cheese, and Provolone cheese—more than the usual quarter pound per person as Dan wanted to make sure there would be more than enough for everyone. He also bought a quart of potato salad, a quart of macaroni salad and a quart of coleslaw. Then they headed out to the Pathmark superstore about ten minutes away, where they bought the salad, salad dressing, cherry tomatoes, scallions and artichoke hearts, in addition to paper plates, cups, napkins, plastic forks, and large plastic serving trays for the bread and cold cuts as well as some plastic serving utensils, a gallon of spring water and three assorted two-liter bottles of soda. After that they headed to Dan’s apartment where Dan retrieved and washed his large cooler from his garage and under Linda’s guidance got everything ready for the next day. All the perishables were safely tucked away in Dan’s fridge and the salad was duly washed, chopped up and stored in two one-gallon Ziplock bags, ready to be transferred to the cooler the next day by Dan. Dan then prepared a quick Spanish tortilla (a large omelet with potatoes, onions, garlic and Spanish chorizo) and salad that they ate while sipping a glass of wine (Rioja red for Dan and Albariño white for Linda). Afterwards, they cuddled in front of Dan’s TV while watching a movie. A couple of hours later, Dan drove Linda home, gave her a lingering kiss by her front door, thanked her for her help, and promised he’d see her the next day after work.
He was home in bed around midnight, with his alarm set an hour earlier than usual for the next day to allow him time to buy the bread and ice he needed prior to heading to work, as well as dessert. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and slept soundly.