Botany: Week One [Dedicated Students]

[jeannette]

The first day of class was like waking up from a very long sleep and seeing the sun for the same time. Everything had to go perfectly, that was for sure. Nothing would stay in the way of the perfect class. This begged the question as to what the perfect class would be, then. What was the perfect class, indeed? Well, to answer that question would be an easy task. The perfect class consisted of apt pupils, that was sure. Secondly, a class would have to be taught be the correct person for the job. That was a dead given in the case of the Botany Class. Additionally, the class would have to provoke thought and interest. It was not enough for a teacher to simply lecture and droll on about things endlessly without any interest from the students. In that case the teacher might as well just make a podcast and the students could just download it and stay in their dorms. No, the classes were to be both educational and entertaining. Still, one could not have children running around with plants in their hands using the poor sproutlings as play grenades. She might as well let the little beasties loose in an infirmary and hope that somehow the babies that nested there managed to live. Rules would be inforced.

Professor Jeannette Page was quite pleased with her surroundings. It was in scarily better shape than her previous teaching gigs and she feared that somehow the school would find out that they had mixed up applicants and that she would be booted away from her loved teaching. The fact that she had been accepted for the job, sadly, got the better of her that night and she danced in a circle in her old home and then went out for drinks. Not normally a heavy drinker, that next morning she cursed at her own insensibility that afternoon. Luckily she had time to recover from a hangover and stomache illness before she was to move into the school. She took two very deep breaths; Jeannette closed her eyes. After she opened them and found the greenhouse was still as marvelous as it was before, even in its earthy simplicity, she gave a barely audible squeak. Idleness was not a belief she followed so she hurried to her place in order to be ready for the children.

The greenhouses were not a typical classroom. This was to be a challenge in teaching, that was for sure. There was one small greenhouse specifically reserved for simply a teaching atmosphere. It didn't room any desks, but simply consisted of a podium at which she would speak to the class. They would learn through example, which she believed to be the best way to learn. Seeing as Botany was an elective, she hoped to weed out — pun intended — the lesser-interested students. Behind the podium there rested a "wall" that was made out of what appeared to be tree's bark. Jeannette thought to herself, staring at the wall for a second, and then nodded. She raised her hand and slowly went to work waving it and hooking it through the air. As she did so, a light cut was made to the wooden board, as if someone was chiseling on it as she conducted. No shavings fell, however. He frowned. Her penmenship was less than perfect, though it still scrolled elegantly. Ms. Page was simply out of practice, it must be.

She looked at the chairs that were screwed into the ground. It looked silly to have them there. The other greenhouses had row upon row of plants. Some of the more fragile and exotic plants were in a safer, locked greenhouse with thick glass panes. Some possibly even dangerous plants lived there in the warm and moist environment. Another building held just trees. It had a very high roof. Her green sundress with the golden belt and her flaming red hair tossed over each shoulder so carefully made her look like the essence of mother nature. Demeter would have been jealous. Breathing in the air, she stood behind the podium. Let the classes begin.

Welcome to Botany: Week One

You have signed up for this elective either because you have an interest in the plant life that our earth is so abundant with, or you have talent with plants already — normal and abnormal talents. Here we will study some of the basics of learning to grow a healthy plant. Not only will we study the basics of plant life, we will study plant anatomy, and create experience in caring after your very own seedling. Please join the classroom by sitting in the class that the chart below has assigned to you.

Under the words etched on the old wood, a five-by-five seating chart was found.