#23 Vanadium- Chapter 4
Here we go:
Arwin Moon was not a happy man. He was busy beyond belief and at any given moment there seemed to be fifty thousand things he needed to do. On top of running the University itself, he also had to arrange this year's family reunion, which took months because most of the relatives on his wife's side were even busier than he was and hard to reach and he couldn't just not invite them because then Charlotte would pitch a fit and refuse to go, which set a bad example for the kids and usually ended with him sleeping on the couch. And with the annual review coming up, there was no way that he wanted to be sleeping on the couch. It was lumpy even though they could afford any couch they wanted because Charlotte loved it and wouldn't get rid of it. But though she loved it, he hated it and it hurt his back when she made him sleep on it.
And to top it all off, he had had to fire his best researcher yesterday. Larry Malloy, a scientific prodige who had invented several things that neither of them spoke of in public because they were either too valuable or unethical to mention. Some freshman had decided not to pay attention to the rumors surrounding Professor Malloy and mouth off to him (in the process accusing Professor Malloy of having gay sex with his students and only passing those who complied, failing all the rest) and Professor Malloy had stabbed him with a ball point pen. It was quite an impressive feat, actually, considering Professor Malloy was standing more than twenty feet from the freshman (who happened to be a buff football player with a lot of muscle but few brains) and the pen embedded itself halfway into his bicep.
However, parents had heard just as many rumors about Professor Malloy as the students (many of them exagerrated further than the ones the students usually heard) and were sure to be all over this incident. So he'd had to do what he didn't want to do and send Larry away for a while whilst things calmed down. He would miss having the evil mastermind around, but it was for the best. At least, he hoped it was. He picked up the phone and dialed.
"Hello?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Ian, how are you?" Arwin smiled.
"Arwin? You again? Didn't we already talk this week?" Ian asked, befuddled. "You almost never call more than once every six months!"
"What, a guy can't call up his brother just to see how he's doing?" Arwin replied.
"Not if it's you. You never call unless you have an agenda or someone forced you to. And yesterday's call about housing your troublesome professor for a year was an agenda call. So who's got the gun to your head for this one?"
"No one, Ian. I just wanted to make sure you were fine."
"Your mad scientist isn't even here yet- Far as I know, he's still on the plane- and already you're worried he's got me? How dangerous is this man, Arwin?" Ian asked, his tone low and threatening.
"Not terribly so, but he can be a handful. He was always picked on in school and still hasn't adjusted to being the one with the power, so he can be a bit vicious at times. I just wanted to make sure he didn't give you a heart attack or something."
"This man had issues in high school, is vicious and just stabbed a student yesterday and you relocated him to a HIGH SCHOOL!?" Ian screamed into the phone.
"Relax, Ian. He'll probably just sit in the room an glare. Give an assignment or two, but mostly he'll glare." Arwin insisted.
"That's not helpful Arwin! My school is known for hands-on teaching and personal attention! The parents will riot! I can't believe you got me into this..." Ian grumbled to himself.
"Well, I'm sure that since you aren't paying his salary- in fact, I distinctly remember agreeing to pay you thirty thousand dollars for keeping him out of this media circus down here for a while- that you'll be able to find some way to put the parents at ease." Arwin assured his brother.
"Make it fifty thousand and I'll even find a place for him to stay that will keep him out of trouble," Ian bargained.
"I don't know, Ian. This is a tough economy these days. I'm not sure I can afford fifty thousand," Arwin said.
"Really? But you can afford thirty on your teacher's salary? Cut the crap. I'm not stupid, Arwin. I know that you have some sort of illegal side business going on. I don't want to know what, but I know you can afford fifty large."
"Fine. But this housing arrangement had better be damned good." Arwin grumbled.
"Trust me, it's better than the prison I'd rather send him to."
"Funny, Ian. Funny."
"I thought so."