The Wizard of Iz
an excerpt

Ebony slouched in the uncomfortable lecture hall seat arhythmically tapping keys as he took notes on his laptop. As far as he was concerned it was a complete waste of time, however, if he didn't take the notes one of two things could possibly occur: he just might fall asleep in class, again, or his head might explode. He would really prefer it if his head would explode, but only if that were the only alternative to falling asleep. However, he knew that by typing the notes he would not only keep his head squarely on his shoulders where it belonged, but he would also marginally avoid falling asleep and failing the class. Ebony snickered. He seriously thought the old man had made up that rule about if you fall asleep in his class three times you would receive an automatic fail just for him when he had been forced to stop his lecture due to the chainsaw loud snoring coming from the middle of the seating arrangement. Needless to say it really caused the him to become irate when Ebony could not only tell him what he had been lecturing about, but managed to respond to the old man’s rapid fire, spur of the moment, pop quiz for one that Ebony had been forced to endure in front of the entire class of nearly two hundred students.

So now he took notes, in French, just to annoy the person sitting behind him who kept attempting to read his screen. Of course it would have been easier to take the notes in English, but Ebony was bored and he had long ago discovered that being bored was not a good thing for him. A light bulb icon flashed on his screen three times then disappeared. Ebony grinned. Three minutes until time to go. Three minutes. He could do three minutes. He blinked his eyes again and stifled yet another yawn as he stretched out his legs as much as possible in the cramped space. All around him other students were realizing the time of their escape was near and the pre-release shuffle began. The professor held up a handful of papers, announcing he needed the following people to stay behind. A collective groan rippled through the lecture hall as names were read, one by one. Ebony shut down his computer and listened for his name. He was certain it would be called, and he was not disappointed. He sighed as he slid back in his chair. It would do no good to try and escape. The old man knew he was present. He always knew.

Ebony didn't bother to rush down the steps to the lectern; he knew the professor would talk to them in the order he called them which meant he had saved Ebony for last, again. At least this time there were only ten people waiting. Fifteen minutes later there were two people waiting. Ebony looked at the young woman and smiled. She appeared to be nervous, so he got up and walked down the steps to sit beside her.

“First time?” he asked keeping his voice low so not to disturb the professor's current tirade.

“Hum?” she semi-vocalized slightly startled by his presence.

“Is this your first time being called upon to defend your position in a paper in this class?” Ebony clarified.

“Oh, yeah, um, yes, this is the first time for me, but I've heard some of the things other people have said,” she fiddled with the straps on her bag nervously, “is it yours?”

Ebony had to try to suppress a laugh, “Oh no, I've had to do this at least weekly.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really? For every paper?”

Ebony nodded.

“Didn’t you learn anything the first time?”

“What was I supposed to learn? That he is an egomaniac who thinks that his way is the only way and that if I don’t think inside his box I’m wrong?” Ebony shrugged, as the young lady the professor had been harassing left the room in a hurry. “Good luck,” Ebony whispered as the professor called her name.

Four minutes later, she fled as well. Ebony picked up his bag and walked down the last set of steps toward his grandfather, smiling as he did so.

“You really shouldn't terrorize your students like this,” Ebony greeted him.

“And you should try harder to pay attention in class. What is this garbage you’ve written?” Dr. Izbane held out the thin sheaf of typewritten pages for Ebony to inspect.

Ebony took it with out looking. “The research is sound, even if you don’t agree with it.”

“You can do so much better than this though, Ebony. Can you at least try?”

Ebony sighed and flipped to the last page, which held his grade. Four hundred ninety-five points out of a possible five hundred points. He sighed and looked back up at his grandfather. “I’m not ever going to agree with you. The research is sound. The paper is good.”

“It is, and I don’t expect you to agree with everything I tell you, Ebony. I just want you to be able to defend your position. You did that in this paper. Congratulations.”

Ebony scrunched up his face in confusion, “Um, thank you.”

“Are you coming over this weekend? Your grandmother misses you.”

“Yes, I should be free, unless of course some nutty professor decides to tie up yet another weekend by making his students sweat through yet another paper,” Ebony said with a smile.

“It would make her happy.”

Ebony nodded. “Sunday dinner?”

“At three.”

“I’ll be there, provided of course...”

Dr. Izbane laughed, “Of course, now go, and do everyone a favor and appear to be at least as upset as some of the others who left before you.”

Ebony gathered his things, “Yes, sir,” he said as he stalked toward the door, picking up speed so that by the time he hit it, it sounded as if it were slammed. A few students were still in the hall, discussing their papers with their friends. He strode past them all, a scowl on his face, muttering just loud enough to be heard about the nutty professor and his insane expectations of his students.

It was just past dark when Ebony arrived at the dorm, after stopping by the cafeteria for a barely edible dinner of pile of starch with cheese, green vegetable paste, and country fried mystery meat surprise. His roommate, Dick, was ensconced at his desk, books open all over the place, rapid fire tap-tapping on his keyboard. He never even looked up as Ebony plopped himself down on his bed, bouncing an open book to the floor. He reached over and picked it up -- Land of the Fey, A Traveler's Guide.

“Interesting reading you have going on here, Dick,” Ebony commented as he flipped through the pages.

“Give me that,” Dick said as he reached for the book.

“What? Don’t want me to see what you are so interested in?” Ebony stopped at the page with a paper stuck in it, the entry was for a Brownie. “Why are you researching this stuff? It has nothing to do with Computer Science.”

Dick looked at Ebony for a moment, and then answered, “Creative writing assignment. I want to be accurate as possible.”

“I think the point of creative writing is creativity, not necessarily accurately.”

Dick huffed then turned back to his laptop. “You do it your way, I’ll do it mine.”

Ebony laughed, a throaty chuckle. “Yes, that's the way it works. Anyway, I’m going out, want to come?”

“No, I have too much work to do. You go have fun.”

Ebony nodded as he began to strip off his clothing to prepare for a shower.

Half an hour later he returned to the room to find Dick and his books gone. Ebony sighed, dropped his towel and started to get dressed. It only took him a few minutes to put on one of his favorite outfits. Socks and a thong were the first to be put on, then came the low riding flare legged jeans that buttoned just above his trimmed pubes. His emerald silk lace up shirt with the full sleeves slid over his chest like an old friend. He pulled the laces so that a bit of flesh flashed through, just enough to tease, but not quite enough to tempt. A hair band kept his unruly black hair out of his eyes, although some of it still managed to fall in ringlets along the sides of his face. Lastly he pulled on his favorite pair of boots, the ones that laced up. Two minutes in front of the mirror added a touch of eyeliner to accent his dark blue eyes and a bit of glitter on his eyelids and lips, just for fun, finished the outfit. Ebony was pleased with how he looked. He was ready to go.

His cell phone chirped just as he rounded the first landing. Hopping down the stairwell he conversed with his grandmother about his upcoming visit. She was really looking forward to it. By the time he hit the outer doors, she was reassured that he was actually coming and he was free to do as he pleased until then. Well, as he pleased so long as he attended classes and got a little studying in. Ebony laughed to himself as he arrived at the bus stop as the bus slowed down to pick up passengers. He fished out his pass and slid into a seat. He would have to transfer twice to get to his destination, but it was worth it. Well worth it.

An hour and a half later Ebony walked the block and a half to his destination -- a little club called “Billabong” in the basement of a classy resturant called “Down Under”. As he descended the stairs he soaked in the ambiance, relaxing with each downward movement. By the time he reached the bouncer at the door the tension was gone and he smiled at the large male as he handed over his identification. A blue dragonfly adorned his left hand to show that he was of legal drinking age although he looked barely old enough to drive, and he was invited to pass through.

to read more please go to: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcxkpg73_35gwf9hx