I showed up at the appointed time that evening.I showed up at the appointed time that evening. He showed me in without the slightest hint of kindness. His house was clean but a bit dissheveled, and it had the look of a bachelor pad, which wasn't surprising, since it was well known around campus that he lived alone. He led me to a room he called his "study". It was a converted family room with a desk, a few comfortable chairs, and shelf upon shelf of books. He sat down behind his desk, and he indicated a chair off to the side of it. I sat down, crossing my legs in a demure manner, although I was well aware that with my skimpy shorts, even a demure posture was quite revealing. I discussed the papers I had written, and he replied to me in an annoyed, perfunctory manner that my papers were fine. I asked him why, then, did he only give me B's. His disdainful answer was that a B is a perfectly good grade, and I shouldn't complain. I then tried to engage him in a conversation about what he had lectured about in class that day. It actually _was_ a fascinating topic to me, so I didn't have to fake my interest too much. However, but he wasn't moved at all by my animated and excited manner. He just kept curtly responding, barely concealing his disdain for me. I guess I'm spoiled, but my instructors tend to like me and to reward my good schoolwork with good grades. I'm also spoiled by the consistently positive responses I get from men. So I was starting to get annoyed with this pain-in-the-ass professor, who was disappointing me on both counts. So finally, I just confronted him point blank. "I don't understand," I said. "My papers are quite good by your own admission. I'm quite interested in the topics you discuss in your course, and I'm probably more knowledgeable about them than anyone else in the class. So what have I done to get you so down on me? What do you have against me?" He was startled by my sudden frankness, but he quickly composed himself and gave me a long, hard stare. After an uncomfortable pause, he sighed and began to speak in a tense, disdainful manner. "Miss M-----," he began, "I must say that I have a very hard time believing that you don't know what it is that I'm so 'down on you' about, as you put it. |