Breathe

The new Latin room is located in the same building, but it's on the other side of the building. However, the room arrangement, as a result of the imaginative nature of whoever designed the place, is exactly the same--same boards, same set of chairs, same set of windows--except it's a mirror version of the other room. Where the window was on the left last quarter, it is now on the right. Aside from the minor confusion in directions, everything else was...familiar.

I had my usual seat by the wall.

A different guy sits behind me this quarter. He makes me think of Darth Vader.

No, no, that gave the wrong impression. He is not dressed in all black and he does not wear a face mask. He is, however, tall but then again, from my point of view most guys are tall. No. What I was referring to is the sound he makes. Maybe he always gets up late and Latin is his first class in the morning (unlikely since the class starts at noon) so he has to do his last minute cross-country biking right before class. Maybe he ran. Maybe he smoked and/or had breathing problems. I don't know. But for the past three days I've spent my class time listening to his harsh breathing noises, half expecting that in the middle of the class he might suddenly stand up and declare "Luke, I am your father."

Or, given the fact that this is in Latin, possibly "Luce," (or maybe Lucius, I have no idea) "Ego pater tuus sum." And possibly he might then add, "Perii." I've learned that when in doubt writing a Roman play, you add "perii." It means "I perish" or, more literally, "I'm done for." It's either that or calling someone a rotten mushroom. Somehow, "perii" sounds more fitting.

In the blur of emails and forms and new classes my clearest recollection of this week will be Darth Vader sounds.