A tall thin man with dark hair and a blue apron stood on the steps of the lecture hall.
“No, I don’t, King Minos,” I replied.
“Well you need one to go there,” and he pointed further down the steps towards a blue hospitality tent.
So that was where the Tibetan woman had gone to, I thought. She had joined me at the back of the lecture hall just as the math professor was wrapping up. (And despite the many spaces available, she’d picked the seat next to mine, on the back wall of the hall.)
The Tibetan woman felt very close. Her white feather boa had brushed my face as she sat down. She was heavily made up, and even though we both faced forwards I could see that she wore fake black eyelashes; she also wore a red and black patterned tunic that I assumed was Tibetan.
I had just gotten back from the bathroom a second time, and had seeked out a space at the top of the stairs, squeezing further along the row, past two lanky young black men who’d spread themselves across the closer seats. I saw that the seats beyond the men were different, they had burnished gold seat cushions, they were wider and they looked comfortable enough so I chose the furthest along the row.
I’d had to go back to the bathroom after realizing that I was without my trousers and my jacket. Yes, I had been walking around with just my socks, shirt and boxers! And I realized that, though I had made a point of being early for the lecture, instead I was late; and now it would be worse for having to return to the bathroom to fetch the jacket and trousers.
Missing so much of the lecture I realized, wouldn’t impress the girl with the pulled back blonde ponytail, neither would the ‘walking around without my trousers on’ part.
Later, when I saw the ponytail woman on the steps, leaving the lecture hall, she looked quite blanched, her face almost as white as her hair. I realized then, that she was quite plain, with her books tucked like babies in her arms.
Before the class had begun I’d gone to the bathroom to take a poo, and although the water level was up to the rim of the bowl, and although I was guaranteed to get my bum wet, there was lots of paper and the bathroom itself was quite clean.
The poo, as well, came out cleanly, one small black pearl-drop, and I was able to wipe myself quickly. Even so, I’d missed the start of the lecture, and with it being the first lecture of the semester, the best chance to make an impression was gone.
When I returned to the toilet to get my trousers, I wondered whether to return to the hall again, but I figured I would not be noticed if I took the side steps to the back.
Indeed no one noticed me except for the ponytail woman who glanced over, and, of course, the black men I’d passed when trying find a new seat.
The students dispersed quite quickly once the lecture had finished, so did the Tibetan woman. And that was when I encountered Minos.
Minos pulled out a token for me and said. “Or you could visit the showgirls instead.” He gave me a sly wink, or at least, that was what I thought he did.
He held up a simple drawing on a large piece of paper. It had a pencil line across the bottom representing the floor, and on the right side of the page, on two pencil line steps, stood two shadowy figures, their smudged shading knee-length skirts hugging their hips, their faces obscured.
The figures stood poised outside the outline of a door.
An exercise in reverse chronological order.
Photo of the ladies at the court of King Minos’ Palace of Knossos by Tony Hammond via Flickr.
