Chapter 29

  SIZZLE

  Deke and Gillian were in the Milton Cohen building in lab MCB432. The room was bare except some chrome tubing and boxes stacked in the corner, a desk, and a black granite-topped table.

  “They are not letting any grass grow under their feet, are they?” Gillian observed.

  Deke said, “Let’s find Cohen.”

  SIZZLE

  They were in Tilly’s office. Tilly was shouting at some grad students. “…and be careful that you pack the files in the correct order,” he shouted.” I don’t want to spend the next four months cleaning up the messes you make because you don’t understand simple filing practices. How did you get to be a grad student? Don’t you have to graduate to be a grad student? How did you ever graduate?” The women just kept packing the records into the bankers’ boxes and tried to pretend they didn’t need this job.

  Cohen stood in the corner of the room. “Ah! Dr. Kelton! Such a time we’ve been having here! Your boy, he made a mess of my building!”

  “At the last minute, he was not trying to. You saw him. He changed his mind. I know he’s sorry.”

  “Sorry doesn’t put students in the seats. ‘Sorry’ doesn’t help my physics building! Your boy didn’t just blow up a conference room. He blew up the entire physics dept. My physics department! ‘He’s sorry’ just put an incompetent into the Dean’s office.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “The Dean’s office?” asked Kelton.

  Cohen continued his tirade, “That’s not the worst part! I have known for years that Dr. Robeson Tilly was an incompetent schnorrer. A stuffed shirt, a bully! Not capable of a single original thought or idea. Apparently, that’s what the chancellor’s office is looking for in a Dean. They feel bad for him. He wasn’t even out of the hospital yet and they voted to make the sole survivor, that brave, brave, schmuck, Dean of my college of physics. They don’t know it yet, but it’s the end. The end, I tell you! If they wanted to choose a survivor, they should have chosen Beta. That one has a head!”

  “ Tilly’s in charge?” “I don’t know if I ever want to go back.” Deke shook his head in disbelief, then tried to change the subject. “Have you met my wife?”

  “We’ve met. At least I’ve seen her before. She was in the conference room for a little while. I saw her because I was the mensch standing 3 meters from the explosion. That boy killed all of the senior staff. Good people. Sure, they can continue their research on this side, but it’s not the same. Pffft! There goes my legacy. When people think of Milton Cohen now, all they will remember is the bombing. The chancellor’s office is even wondering about tearing down the building. For the sake of public relations, no less.”

  Cohen droned on, “They already have a stack of CVs on Tilly’s desk. He is going to hire a bunch of Tilly clones, teachers and professors who won’t challenge him or the students. It’s the end, I tell you!

  An operatic voice sang , “Where are the clones? Send in the clones, don’t bother, they’re here!”

  “Jacob! Shut up!” shouted Cohen and Kelton simultaneously.

  “This is a pleasure. We can admire my work together! Just when I thought it couldn’t have gotten any funnier, Tilly himself gets put in the driver's seat. This is something I can work with!”

  Kelton shuddered in disgust. He touched Gillian. “I can’t stand to be here any longer, let’s go!”

  “Come by again when you can stay longer! I’ll stay here and talk with Milt. I got me some salt that needs rubbing into the wounds.” Jacob said cheerily.