We wanted this information on Mr. McAllisdair so badly that the three of us skipped our next classes and went straight over to see Melinda’s friend Millicent in the registrar’s office. Millicent was the main office secretary and had unrestricted access to the dean and chancellor’s offices. Not to mention, according to Mel, Millicent was having a very hot and heavy affair with the married chancellor.
Once I laid eyes on Millicent, I knew why. She was a brunette walking hour-glass in a tight black dress that hugged each and every curve of her body. Every bit of her jiggled when she walked. Her eyes were bright green in color with long black lashes framing them. She was what they’d call a “bombshell”!
“Millie!,” Mel exclaimed, happy to see her old friend again.
“Mel!,” Millicent responded, equally as enthusiastic about seeing her, “It’s great to see you, old chum...” They hugged, and kissed.
“Millie, do you have a moment? We have a favor to ask of you...”
“Sure...just a moment.” Millicent walked over to the door labeled “Chancellor’s Office” and let him know that she was stepping out for a bit. He must have ok’d it as she came back out quickly.
The four of us went outside and sat on a bench by the main office. Millicent whipped out a cigarette and lit it. She offered us one. We declined.
“So how can I help you, Mel?,” Millicent asked.
“You’ve seen that new handsome British professor named McAllisdair around, right?”
“Boy have I! I saw him when he came in for his interview a month ago. Drop-dead gorgeous he is! I tried to flirt with him, but he didn’t seem to get it...”
“He got it, trust me!,” I said before I knew it. Millicent smiled.
“Well, anyway,” Mel went on, “...he’s exhibiting some pretty creepy behavior. Scared my friend over here half to death the other day!”
“Really? How?”
“Long story. It ended with me running out of his Mercedes...,” I said.
“What? Oh my...he’s into ‘nice girls’ I see,” Millicent implied as she looked me up and down with envy.
Mel continued, “So of course we are terribly curious about him. Can you look up any records on him for us?”
Millicent thought for a moment, then said, “Sure...now that you mention it, I’m a little curious myself. Hold on, let me get a school faculty directory...” She disappeared into the main building.
About five minutes later Millicent emerged with a thick brown book in her hand. She was so excited...
"Okay, girls!," she said as she popped back onto the bench with us, "Let's take a look in the faculty book! Hey, that rhymed! Haha..."
She was the only one who found that funny...
Millicent anxiously opened the directory and we all gathered around her. My heart began to pound as we got into the M's. Finally, we found his name:
McAllisdair, Trevor
Address: (blank space)
Telephone No.: ext. 11824 (his classroom extension)
Nothing.
"Well I'll be...," Millicent said, deflated, "That's odd for a professor to refuse to place his or her address in THIS book. Why this is strictly for the main office to use in case they need to contact him..."
"What about his job application?," Janice said, thinking quickly. "Surely it's on there..."
"Surely, yes it has to be," Millicent agreed, "But that won't be so easy for me to get. I tell you girls what, give me till the end of the day. Around 4pm. I should have it by then. Okay?"
"Great! We'll return then!," Mel said. Our excitement over this potential morsel of information growing again...
“Remember, girls, this is strictly between us! I could lose my job and get in huge trouble if any of this gets out...”
“We promise!,” Mel said, “Just between us girls!” We placed our hands in a stack together as a show of faith. Then we went our separate ways.
***
It was 3:59pm. My last class of the day was about to end in one minute. I couldn’t wait!
Four o’clock. Finally!
I hurried back to the main office to meet Melinda, Janice, and Millicent, who would have Mr. McAllisdair’s coveted job application.
Millicent didn’t let us down. She came out of the building with a manilla folder, holding it tightly against her moderate chest.
“Okay, ladies,” she whispered, “Let’s go somewhere and look at this privately...”
We agreed...
The four of us walked over to the campus library and sat a table as far back as we could get.
At long last, Millicent opened the manilla folder. Sure enough, it was Mr. Trevor D. McAllisdair’s application for a teaching position here at New York University. The date on the application was April 26th, 1964...about five months prior.
Name: Trevor Dean McAllisdair
Date of birth: 10/27/1927
Address: 13670 S. Royal St./Liverpool, England...
“Liverpool, England?,” I said, feeling defeated again, “He must’ve applied when he was still over there...”
“Damn...,” Millicent said as she continued to flip through the pages of his dossier, “...no current address in any of this.”
“Look at his past jobs,” Janice said, “University of California in Los Angeles...”
“What?,” I asked, “When?”
“1958-1961,” Millicent answered.
“It looks like he taught briefly at Oxford University too,” said Janice, “1962-January 1964.”
“Wow,” Mel said, “He sure gets around, doesn’t he?”
“That’s a mystery in itself...,” I said.
There was a twinkle in Millicent’s eyes all of a sudden as she closed the folder and looked around at us and said, “Well, you all know what this means, right?”
We looked at each other, puzzled...
“We have to follow him home! He will be here on campus tomorrow, right? We can sit and wait for him to leave, then follow him...”
“Well none of us have a car,” said Janice.
“I do!,” Millicent said, “We can all ride together but we can’t make it obvious...”
I had to interrupt her, “I don’t believe this will work, Millicent.”
“Why not?”
“He will know we are following him. Call me crazy, but he reads minds...”
“Huh?! That doesn’t make any sense...”
“He read MY mind Monday. That’s why I ran out of his car...” Millicent didn’t believe me at all.
“At any rate,” she continued, “We will meet up again tomorrow, say around 4pm at the main office. We will get in my car. Then from there we will go to the parking lot where Mr. McAllisdair parks his. We will stay as far back as possible...”
This plan made me sick to my stomach, but the other girls were all for it.
“Such fun! Let’s do it!,” Mel said.
“Sounds good,” Janice joined in.
Then they all looked over at me.
I conceded.... but with a bad feeling about it.
Then suddenly,
BOOM!
A giant library book came falling down on the table we were sitting at! We all jumped, of course, as it almost fell directly on Millicent! We looked up and all we could see was the ceiling to the library. No books should have been hanging up there! Where did this big old dusty book come from? Who on Earth, or beyond, dropped this thing on us...?
The four of us sat quietly staring at the huge book at first.
Then we gathered ourselves, and Mr. McAllisdair’s papers, and ran like hell out of the library...
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