About this scary side of his…
At a time now past, there was a teacher in italian lang. and lit. coming straight from the city of the most famous two lovers of all time. Verona. He was teaching at a university in a foreign land. Why or how come he chose that particular school for his teaching endeavors, nobody knew.
A very serious and sharp man, indeed. He had his moments of course, good and bad. The students were appealed to him, like children are to strangers, as he very often told stories and cracked jokes.
Quite the industrious man he was and expected the same from his students. When he was a student the dictionary was his Bible, he used to say, working on it day in and day out. He almost never revealed the sacred facts of his private life.
His exterior? Very short and important and a bit scary, let’s say. With a glossy, nicely shaped bold head. He always used to wear this copper bracelet on his right wrist with indecipherable letters written on it.
After three years of teaching at the same university and having learned the language spoken there; which, he liked to say, he knew like the inside of his pocket; he decided it was time for him to move to another country. Again, why or how come, nobody knew.
About this scary side of his…
***
In class he used to tell one story, that took place at a group of islands when he was on vacation. In this extraordinary place, he took an exploring tour through the neighboring islands. So, he happened to be with this group of people that went deep into the forest of that particular island.
I have forgotten the details, but nevertheless there he was lost in the middle of nowhere with another vacationer, trying to find the rest of the group. No communication devices with them. Finding a path, they thought was the right one that led to the group, was the ultimate goal. They did find a path, but after circling for more that an hour or so they came up at the same spot they took of from. Staying at the same spot was not an option, so they moved on, leaving behind a small mark on the spot recognized as the start of their pilgrimage. The day was coming to an end and they had no more water left. If the inevitable came, they could drink their own pee, they reasoned. Unfortunately, the horror didn’t end there. Taking another path, when they almost collapsed from tiredness, being thirsty and scared, they decided to try a different path in the semi darkness of the forest.
After hours of walking through the woods they had come across an old barn with goats. Being thirsty as they were, drinking the putrid water from the goats was totally acceptable. So they did.
The village they found near by was miles away from the spot they were supposed to be at that time. The group located them the next day.
***
He had a really bad habit. Whenever, meaning almost every single time, he made an inquiry about a certain subject in class and a student would be willing to answer his question and did eventually, our teacher would just interrupt this student right before making the final conclusion and almost shout his italian ,,NO”. Or make a long one. Or even more likely his ,,Ma, nooooo”.
***
