WIP: DYNAMIC DUO OF THE OZARKS

CHAPTER 9

Mykel and Clint woke up and got ready for the second day of classes in the new semester. They had already figured out that they had one class together today.

“You know I enjoyed going to that hootenanny over at the Campus Union last night,” Clint remarked. “We ought to do that again sometime.”

“I think they do that once a month,” Mykel said.

“I’m sure he would deny it, but I think Slick enjoyed it too,” Clint chuckled while shoving his feet into his cowboy boots.

At 11 A.M, Mykel and Clint went to the Psychology 101 class. They sat next to each other, but it they didn’t make as big commotion like Sherry had in the American History class the previous day.

A tiny, skinny lady, in her sixties, with reading glasses on a chain, strolled in and gave a stack of papers to her assistant, who passed them out. They were like most curriculum papers, typed but mimeographed in vaporous purple ink. Clint scan his then found something that caused him to panic.

“Look at this!” he jabbed Mykel in the ribs with his elbow. He pointed to where it said, ‘PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIMENT & RESULTS REPORT – 50 % OF YOUR SEMESTER GRADE.’

“I can’t do an experiment!” Clint said.

“Let’s wait and see what we are required to do before we have a conniption over it,” Mykel tried to reassure his roommate. “This is just the first day of class. We’ve got at least four months before we flunk this class.”

The lady addressed the class in a squawking, prissy voice. “I’m Dr. Verna Arguss and this is Psychology 101. My office hours are listed on the curriculum sheet. I’m not here, on campus, every day because I also work over at the prison medical center, here in Spring Valley. I will go ahead and tell you that besides test and quizzes, fifty percent of your grade will be a public experiment, that you, and two or three people, will do to gauge responses from other people. Now most people chose to do a simple experiment, like standing backwards in an elevator. I should say that you try to do something that will not cause a mass commotion. Last Spring, we had what two students thought would be a simple experiment. A white boy held hands in public with a Negro girl and, unfortunately, some of Spring Valley’s ruffians attacked them. Please don’t do anything that can get you or a classmate injured. Once you have performed your experiment, you will write up a report on how people reacted to your experiment. You will pair up with one or two partners, but no more than three to a group.”

“There we go, Clint. We can be partners in this project,” Mykel whispered. “I say we think of something big that will get us a good grade.”

“Knowing the way my luck runs,” Clint whispered in response. “We will need to cure insanity to get a good grade.”