Rising Above

As the head of the Science Department in standing if not in title, Dr. McKay had many enemies. Dr. Simpson, a woman classy and woman enough to know that the only reason that she was the Department Head was that she was rich and America, allowed Dr. McKay to freely express his academic opinions and reined him in before he could insult anyone too much.



Not even she, though, could protect Rodney from the back-stabber Kavanagh.



Rodney also had difficulty earning any respect from his students. Simpson had repeatedly asked him to refrain from insulting his students, but he could not help but berate his Advanced Astrophysics students for paying off Kavanagh for good grades in previous Astrophysics classes. Good grades should denote an understanding of the subject rather than how wealthy the student was.



Rodney was grading the midterm exams when he came to Brain Batherton’s blank exam packet. Between the fourth and fifth page, he found three crispy Benjamin Franklins.



Rodeny’s stomach coiled. Batherton was the nephew of a state congressman and was notorious in the teacher’s lounge for bullying his teachers into giving him anything he wanted.



The $300 meant that he respected McKay enough not to beat him half to death for a decent grade.



McKay considered that honor and the $300 that would keep his hands from shaking from low blood sugar levels and would buy a few fresh vegetables for his family.



Then his god-damned morals kicked in and he marked a modest red “F” at the top left corner of the exam cover.



Sixty-seven graded exams later, McKay had a stack of papers to his left representing the students who had haphazardly attempted to pass the test. A second, larger pile to his right represented the students who had attempted to bribe him. Including the previous $300, Dr. McKay had a pile of money that surpassed his monthly salary.



That evening when Dr. McKay brought his papers to Dr. Simpson, she made a few suggestions of taking the money and running with it, keep his mouth shut, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and several other American anecdotes.



Rodney debated with himself about what to do just before passing out the exams for the usual after-test-review. The smug faces of the students who had bribed him and the anxious faces of those students who had attempted to take the test solved his internal debate.



“I have all of your final grades in my grade book, so don’t worry about fixing your test while we review. With this class, I am going to make a very generous offer. For those of you who received a failing grade, you can leave the room now, go to the enrollment office, and drop out of class. This will save everyone grief and time. Please save all of your questions until all after the papers are passed back.” McKay passed Brain’s paper to him last.



There was an angry murmur among the students, and then Brian shouted at the sight of his paper. “I can’t believe this! Who do you think you are? I give you good money, and this is how you repay me?”



There were similar outcries from half of the class.



“Hey!” shouted McKay. “You should be thankful I didn’t have you all expelled. Just drop the class and forget about the whole thing.”



Brian growled, “We’ll see what the Dean has to say about this,” and he walked out of the class, a procession of snarling students followed him.



The rest of the class sat ghostly pale. The answer key he held in his hand shook as he read, “Question number one . . . “ and it wasn’t from low blood sugar.



A small dark-haired girl with glasses in the second row interrupted him. “Doctor?”



The pause allowed McKay to swallow the lump in his throat.



“Doctor Kavanagh said that you would pass us all if we paid you. What made you change your mind?”



McKay knew Kavanagh was behind this, but he didn’t realize that the man would blatantly tell his students to bribe him. If McKay took the bribes, Kavanagh would certainly expose him and have him fired. If he didn’t take the bribes, Batherton would be sure to have him fired. McKay was screwed and Kavanagh was wielding the screwdriver.



McKay addressed the girl. “Why didn’t you bribe me? All of you, why didn’t you bribe me?”



The brunette said, “It didn’t seem right. I just couldn’t do it.”



“I don’t have enough money,” said another boy.



“That too,” said the girl.



“Me too,” said all the rest of the class.



“Are you going to get fired?” asked the brunette.



“Yes. Probably deported, too.” The class was uncomfortably quiet as the reality of his situation hit him. He was going to loose his family and his career.



The silence was broken by the slamming of the lecture hall doors as Kavanagh and Batherton led the dean down the steps.



“This class is dismissed,” shouted the Dean. The few students left without dispute. The brunette gave him a worried look just before she ran up the steps to the doors.



“What is the meaning of this, McKay? Not only do I understand that you encourage bribes, but you have also failed all of the wealthy students. Do you have some kind of vendetta against people better off than yourself? Speak up, McKay!”



“Just fire me and stop the charade.” His head was down and his voice was low.



“Not so fast. It seems to me that you have wasted a full semester’s worth of your students’ education. Don’t you have any morals? Had you continued to teach non-sense, who knows how you could have ruined the lives of your students? Who knows how long you would have continued to teach this prattle. I am a PhD myself and I can’t make heads or tails of this!” He waved the test in the air.



“This is Advanced Astrophysics; of course you wouldn’t understand it. This is beyond most people including you and Kavanagh.”



“How dare you! Accusing your betters of being simpletons? I went against my better judgment when I hired you maples, and I can see I was right in doubting you. Your maple-loving wife will be lucky to keep her job.”



The derogative slur stung. “She has nothing to do with this.”



The argument went on until neither had enough energy to continue.



An armed guard and Kavanagh “assisted” McKay in removing his personal affects from his desk and office. McKay asked Kavanagh a simple, “Why?” and Kavanagh gave a simple answer.



“You are not the only one with a family.”



He waited across the street from the university for his wife to finish with her botany class. She already knew what happened before she saw him. They both knew that without a job, he would be deported within the month if not sooner.



Katie’s mother had passed away, and Kate gave the small inheritance to her husband. He spent the meager amount of money on stamps. He sent letters to every school and private research facility he had ever heard about.



The only response came from a joint private and government project in Colorado. He couldn’t remember sending anything to them. A phone call and a plane ride later, and he was sitting on a bed inside a mountain waiting to hear from people on another planet.



And what the hell was the deal with that colonel? Was he actually making a pass at him, or was he just trying to rattle him?



Damn it, stop dwelling on the negative.