It was a normal morning for Richard Numbers, a measly biochem major. Two classes down by 11:00 am and off to the arguably worst lecture of his day– Organic Chemistry for majors. Normally, his professor is already in the room trying and failing to get his technology to work. But today as the door creaked open and slammed behind Richard, the professor the class had learned to love was not there. Richard looked around and everyone was as confused as him, but they all sat down and waited. Each checking Canvas, emails, and the online course schedule… nothing.

A minute before the class officially started a different man walked in, definitely not the old man they knew and loved.

“Your professor is sick. I’m teaching you today,” was all he said before jumping straight into a complicated topic. No one paid attention, and all were worried about the beloved professor that had been teaching since before 1990. For the next week, not a word was spoken about the professor’s illness. No one knew what was going to happen on the approaching exam day. Many were hoping for a cancellation, others for a rescheduled time, and the lone few wanted it to go on as planned. Those few were right.

Students entered the hall, many whispering about who was proctoring the exam. Richard even overheard a group of women in stem talking about what would happen if the professor died.

“Would we get an A on the exam?!” one said.

“Don’t say that. We love him,” the other said, slapping her friend’s arm.

“I know, I know. Buuuuut I also don’t want to fail.”

Richard sighed. He liked his teacher. He was sweet and really liked something called conformations. Apparently, there were supposed to be a lot of those on this exam… Richard didn’t know any. The exam came and went, so did the next week of class. The professor still wasn’t there. That’s when the students started to sweat. At this point, there were five different subs that had come to teach the class, each duller than the last. The students began to give up hope.

Monday. The student sat in their seats solemnly waiting for the next abysmal substitute. The door creaked open and closed with a thud. The students didn’t look up.

“Let’s start class.”

That voice–it sounds so… Richard thought as he looked up to see the one and only professor standing in front of the class, fiddling with his Ipad. It’s HIM.

The professor lives!