Back to School

Kurt was a veteran of the United States Army and had been stationed all over the world, including three deployments to Iraq, but none of his ventures had worried him as much as his upcoming one, life as a student back in his hometown of Santa Esmeralda, Texas. When he left the West Texas desert and saw the beautiful woods of Fort Benning, Georgia—his first time ever being out of state—he swore he’d never return and live in a desert by choice again. After retirement, the he found himself right back home taking care of his mother who had been losing a battle to brain cancer. He had unused G.I. Bill benefits that could be used toward a college degree and would also put a little extra cash in his pockets. He did not have a single desire to be placed into the civilian workforce but what harm could a little schooling do? Going to school had given him a reason to get out of the house and it wasn’t like having a degree would require him to have a job.  

After going through the process of placement testing, guidance counseling, squaring away his paperwork with the school’s VA office, and registering for classes, Kurt—with his campus schedule in hand—became a 41-year-old first-year student at his local community college. He found himself nervous about the idea of being the oldest guy among his  new  classmates  who would be fresh out of high school and ready to take on the world.   

He arrived at the school early on his first day and had a hell of a time finding a parking space. After driving around for what felt like 20 minutes and watching as the young students scrambled to the school building, Kurt finally settled for a ten-minute visitor’s parking space. He thought, how would anyone know it was not a visitor? He walked to the entrance and as he held the door opened for a young lady in tiny shorts, he remembered his backpack. “Fuck,” he whispered to himself and made his way back to the parking lot. On the passenger side seat, he found the Army assault pack from his old gear. It held his class books. He slung one strap over his shoulder and made his way back to the building.  

The purpose of arriving early was to find the locations of each of his five classes as to avoid showing up late to any of them and saving himself the embarrassment of strolling in as the late old guy. He held his schedule in his hand and looked down at it, and then up at the signs above each hallway which had class numbers on them. That made things easy. His first class was an introduction to criminal justice which was in room 1104. He walked in and took a seat as far back away from the teaching podium as he could get. He had been the first student to arrive. He scrolled through his phone as he waited for the others to arrive.  

He wondered if he would be older than his instructor. He hoped she would not be the type that made each student stand up and introduce themselves. He had no interest in being social. He just wanted to get class over with and move on to the next one. He had plans to go to the school library after his classes ended so he could knock out any homework he would be assigned. That way when he got home that evening the only thing that would be on his schedule was beer drinking.  

When his fellow students began to trickle in Kurt put his phone on silent and into his pocket. Some of the students had spoken to each other but most had been silent and seemed to be as nervous as Kurt was. Most had been significantly younger than him aside from a very few. There had also been other veterans. Could tell that they had served without even asking. Veterans can usually do that. They just know.   

When the instructor arrived, Kurt sat there shocked. He had known her well.  Her name was Talia and she was his high school sweetheart many years ago. 

“Hello class,” she greeted. “My name is Talia Sanchez, and this is your introduction to Criminal Justice.”  

Kurt was amazed at how little she had aged over all this time. He hadn’t seen her since he was 20.  Her light brown skin had been just as soft and smooth looking as it had before and her hair was just as thick and black with only a few silver strands that had managed to find their way in over the years. When he’d left to basic training her name had been Talia Jones, but she had obviously gotten married while he was away. He looked at her hands. No rings. I wonder if she’s divorced, he thought.  

“Today is our syllabus day so you guys don’t have to worry about me assigning any homework,” she said, and the entire class looked relieved. “I would like you to take notes though.” 

A student in the front row had been chosen to pass out some paperwork that Talia had taken out of her brown leather briefcase. Kurt wished he had sat in the front row as he waited for Talia to see him. When she did, she smiled as did Kurt who tipped his Texas Rangers ballcap to her. 

The next hour went smoothly as Talia told the class about the things she would be teaching and the things she expected to them. She gave out her phone number and email address should any of the students need to contact her. She went over the required course material and book. Some students raised their hands and she called on one. He asked how long they had to buy the book and she told him she expected everyone to have it by the next class meeting as she would be assigning homework then. That had answered the question that most of the other students who had their hands up wanted to ask. One of the veterans, a grizzly looking guy with a long beard informed her that he had been waiting on the VA to send his book check. She told him there was a copy of the book in the library and that he would have to use that until he could purchase his own book. Kurt didn’t have any questions that she would be able to answer in front of an audience.  

When class let out, Kurt waited in his seat as Talia had expected him to. When the other students cleared out, he made his way to her podium where she was packing up her briefcase. “Talia,” he said. “How the hell are you?” 

“I’m great, Kurt. It's great to see you! When did you move back home?” 

“About a month ago.”  

“And this is my first time seeing you?’ she asked sounding disappointed.  

“I didn’t know how to contact you,” he began before she cut him off. 

“My parents are still in the same house,” she said, “You should have gone by. They would love to see you.”  

Kurt was flattered. “Really? And how are your sisters and brother?” 

“They’re great,” she said. “How’s your mom?” 

“Not so good.” 

“Really, what’s wrong?”  

“She’s really sick,” he said. “I’ll explain later if it's okay. I have to get to my next class.” 

“Sure. That’s fine.”  

“Hey,” he said as her watched her begin to make her way out of that classroom and on to the next one where she had to teach a different class. She turned to look him in the eyes. “Would you like to get dinner tonight.” 

“I would love to,” she replied. 

They said their goodbyes and hugged before they went to their respective classrooms. At dinner that night Kurt found out that Talia had indeed gotten divorced about a year before. They talked about campus police writing him a $75 ticket for parking in the visitor's spot and laughed. He told her about his mother and about his time in service. She told him about her time as a sheriff’s deputy and as a probation officer before taking the gig as an instructor. For the first time, Kurt was happy that he went back home.