Renaissance Faire Ch. 06

It must have been a very difficult semester for Dr. Finebaum, because his wife barely spoke to him, and his elevator seemed to have developed a lot of problems, forcing him to take the seven flights of stairs to and from his office. His Wi-Fi became spotty, and his cellular signal cut in and out along with the heat and A/C. He was ready to fire someone, namely Neil, who had helped Rob all those years ago, until things began to settle down a little.

The divorce went smoothly, and a couple of months after filing, he and Debbie were officially finished. It should have saddened him more, but being with Kate gave him such joy, he didn't think much about it. Debbie poured herself into her dissertation, because getting her PhD was all she had at the moment.

Rob rarely saw Debbie on campus, and thankfully when he did, it was at a distance. As the semester concluded, Kate finished her master's in ChemE. Rob made a 'B' in Calculus 3 and his engineering course.

Carl sent Rob a text letting him know that Debbie defended her dissertation and would be receiving her PhD. Rob wrote back, asking him to pass along congratulations to Debbie.

With Rob not there to look after Debbie, Carl and Sheila had taken on that role, not trusting her to judge Richard carefully. Carl had taken a keen interest in her research trip, and Debbie enjoyed sharing the details with her father and mother.

She wasn't crazy about being with Richard for a whole month, because since Rob kicked her out, Richard wasn't very supportive, socially; seeming only interested in getting her into the bedroom, or his office, or wherever she would let him. At least professionally he had helped her by reviewing and making suggestions to her dissertation. Debbie hoped the research trip would go well. She wondered if getting one of those teaching positions was worth it. Actually, she knew the answer to that question, but when a teaching position was the only good that could come from the situation, she needed to at least try to convince herself that it had been worth it.

While she was extremely busy preparing to defend her dissertation, once completed and only teaching the one class, she had time to prepare for her trip and help where she could with the Renaissance Faire.

Because of the rift with Dr. Finebaum, the engineering school decided to have their exams and graduation several days earlier than the rest of the university. The school claimed it was to do with the chaos still surrounding the cleanup of the ChemE building. Most students didn't mind, but a few planned to go through the ceremony the engineering school was having and then again, the larger ceremony for the entire university.

One thing the engineering school did not do was help at all with the fair. If Dr. Finebaum wanted to deny them their needed funds, then they could deny him the needed help.

To be continued...

Next up - Chapter 7 - Commencement