Changes

I meant to get up early today, and head downtown to people-watch and otherwise be lazy. But instead I slept in until one o'clock, so downtown Denver became Castle Rock.

However, when I got out of the shower I discovered a package - the t-shirts I ordered during the Save Sluggy drive! So it may have been Castle Rock, but at least it was Castle Rock with bloody pawprints on my shirt. But, that aside, I had a textbook to return to my old math teacher.

I expected the building to be half empty; while I was at that school the first Monday of the year was reserved for new students and freshmen to find their way around. But the parking lot was full to the brim. I did get a spot and wandered in, falling into my old habit of long, purposeful strides, eyes hidden in my sunglasses. As I rounded the corner towards the former storage closet, I stopped short. Who was Ms. Harrison? Had they finally gotten the sense to move Mrs. Kissler to a real classroom? The math office was empty, so I scanned the halls methodically, looking at the names by each door. Old names and new blended, but I finally caught the right one. The new room was huge, four times the size of the closet she'd been in when I took her classes. I passed back the stat book she'd loaned me a year ago, and we chatted for a while.

From there I wandered to the other building, hoping my old English teacher would still be around, knowing her habit to leave school early. She was indeed, in her lamplit room, active as ever, but I could see the age creeping into her face. She told me she was considering retirement in a couple years, and her husband had been diagnosed with cancer. They thought it'd all been caught in the surgery, but you can never quite tell. It'd be a pity for the school to lose Mrs. Resling, but she certainly deserves a retirement while she can still enjoy it. Again, I promised to keep in touch; but I know that'll probably just consist of me coming by the high school to visit when I'm in town and bored.

I caught up with Dr. Brown and Mrs. Luedke Kerr in the theatre office, and caught up on doings in the theatre. Luckily, Performing Arts was the only elective department to squeak through state budget cuts without losing teachers, and they were finally back on budget after losing money on the Scotland trip. However, as the school expands, Castle Rock itself is due for the next new high school, and supposedly the plan is to build new (massive) buildings in Founders and the Meadows, turn the north building of the old school into a middle school, and turn the south building (the old middle school) into city and/or county offices. I can't say I know what effect splitting Castle Rock would have, but the irony of the building switch delights me, as I was in the last class to ever attend the old middle school. (My seventh grade math class and my twelth grade math class were about twenty feet apart, all told.)

As I was passing through town, I saw my friend Jeff sitting outside Crowfoot, so I stopped by to catch up. After a year in Europe, he'll be starting at CalTech (heh, heh) this fall (late September! Good gods!) and possible going through structural engineering on his way to architecture. We talked, and as it started raining, we migrated inside. naturally, rain turned to a downpour, and we were trapped. Eventually, time approached five, and I had errands to do, so I sprinted to my car (getting soaked) and tried to make it possible to see. Naturally, by the time I got to the library, the rain had slowed to a trickle, and at King Soopers it was finished.

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