Writer's comment:  If I'd had this particular professor in any of my science classes, I might have enjoyed them a lot more...

Frank paused at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and collected himself.  The mad rush to get here had been unnerving, but he'd managed to make it on time.  He tried to calm the butterflies in his stomach.  No matter how comfortable he was in front of the classroom, no matter how many classes he taught, he always had a touch of something akin to stage fright before facing a class for the first time.  Okay, he told himself, it was time to start the show.  He put a welcoming smile on his face, and walked through the door.

He took a quick look around the classroom as he entered.  It was a large class, as he'd expected.  As he examined the faces of the students, his eyes fell on a young woman in the front row, staring at him with a stunned expression.  The sight of her face hit him with the same impact as that blast from Riff Raff's laser gun.  It took every ounce of his hard-earned self-control to keep the expression on his own face unchanged, to keep from gasping out loud.  He pulled the class roster out of his briefcase, and there it was.  Janet Weiss.  Oh My God.

Now what?  He quickly realized there was nothing he could do about it right now…he just had to go on with the class, and they'd deal with it afterward.  There was a small knot in his stomach at the thought.  Obviously she'd recognized him.  What must she be thinking?  How did she feel about him?  Did she hate him for what he'd done to her and Brad?  Forcing himself to shove the thoughts of Janet out of his head, he turned to address the waiting students.

"How do you do?  My name is Dr. Frank Furman, but you can call me…Dr. Furman."

The class laughed.

He continued.  "Before we get started, I'd like to find out precisely what I'll be dealing with.  I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer completely honestly.  Do you understand?"

Some affirmative murmurs greeted his question.

"Splendid.  Okay, how many of you are here because you have a true love of chemistry?  A true love of the sciences?  A burning desire to learn about the chemical reactions that go into so much of the life surrounding all of us?  Remember…be honest."

A few tentative hands were raised.

"Just as I expected.  All right, how many of you are here because this institution, to your infinite disappointment, requires that every freshman take a science class, and you chose chemistry because at least you would not be forced to dissect any formerly living creatures?"

Much laughter greeted this question, and most of the hands in the class shot up.

Frank laughed.  "Also just as I expected.  I can see I'll have my work cut out for me.  My job will not be merely to teach you the basics of chemistry.  I have also been charged with opening your eyes to the wonders of science in general.  Before I can do that, I suspect I'll need to break through the preconceptions about science – and scientists – that you have brought with you into this classroom.  I'm aware of the high social esteem with which you regard scientists."  He smiled.  "Tell me if I'm right.  When your typical scientist was a child, he brought a fully functional model of a nuclear reactor to his third grade science fair.  He wore a bow tie in his school picture every year until graduation.  He had to bribe one of his little sister's friends to accompany him to his high school prom.  Every single person who signed his yearbook was a member of the science club.  As an adult, his entire wardrobe appears to come from a 1950s Sears catalogue, and his social skills continue to rival those of a nervous 14 year old with acne.  For a career, he either spends his days ensconced in a laboratory, performing experiments with no discernable purpose and writing incomprehensible articles about them, or he finds himself in the front of a classroom, delivering lectures in a droning monotone and extolling the virtues of the periodic table.  Of course, those who teach at the college level are fortunate enough to divide their time between both the pointless laboratory work and the droning classroom lectures.  I use male pronouns quite deliberately, as naturally all scientists are men.  Does that sum it up?"

He looked around the classroom, amused.  It was obvious he'd captured their impression of what scientists were like, but their sheepish grins showed they were too embarrassed to admit it out loud.

He laughed again.  "It's quite all right, really.  I understand where the stereotype comes from.  However, it's my goal to get you to move beyond it, to get you to understand that a wide variety of people, both men and women, are interested in the sciences, and that scientific inquiry is absolutely vital to our lives in countless ways.  Those people locked away in laboratories are coming up with important advances in world health, in agriculture, in space exploration…their work is far from irrelevant, and if even just a couple of you leave this course with the idea of possibly pursuing a career in the sciences, my time will have been well spent.  Actually, if I can simply get you to admit that not every scientist is a hopeless nerd, I'll be able to count that as a personal triumph."

To the accompaniment of laughter, he went over to his desk.  "Okay, enough of the philosophical stuff.  Time for roll call…"