The Last Teacher

Icarus 2001-2

"Do you see that I am right?" Pleased Sacchi.

"Yes, but so what? ... What do I tell him now with electronics, that I have to study it first, and it would take me the five years I spent on mechanical engineering instead?"

And the trouble was that Sacchi was also right as rain, since in public education professionalism was worth half as much as outside. But woe betide those who complain too much, eh! Or else you know the ones that everything is duty?

"The money, always the money, come on! Don't you know how many Franciscans there are in the school with the cilice under their robes? Multitudes as immense as the heavenly hosts! Take an example from them: school is a mission! And then you are a teacher, then 'profess', no? Otherwise it will be said that you are either lazy, or incompetent.... Are you lazy or incompetent, you?”

"No, lazy no, but in truth I know almost nothing about Chinese literature."

"And you confess it like this? Bad! Even worse than putting yourself on sick leave in Rangiroa for a month. If you have to teach it, you know it, because self-education is a must and ignorance is not allowed if you don't want to risk your job..."

That's right: cuckolded and cuckolded; the great thing about those who hold the law is that guards and thieves decide them as they please.

With the third A1, Sacchi got the other half of the articulated, so the two of them would be in the same class council, and since it was the right time for coffee, they went to sanction the new alliance between the rival classes over a steaming cup in the still sleepy café.

"I saw you in the fields back here flying a model aircraft with some guys on Monday."

"Icarus 2001!" Battista titled, hinting at a half-smile under his moustache. He would never have wanted to admit that he sometimes devoted much, much more time to the school than his contractual hours, because it was enough for his colleagues, almost all of them, and a few wretched colleagues, to brag about being a volunteer teacher.

"So they burden the public with this expectation,' he thought, 'and the government takes advantage of it, so that the above-mentioned four pennies also seem too much... But it really is a job, and a job must be paid in proportion to quality and commitment, otherwise where does it end? You can't live on air!"

Yet he had dedicated an inordinate amount of 'extra time' to that model aircraft over the course of the year, and had even returned from the sea on Monday to fly it with the boys who had built it.

In June he had not ventured to avoid the risk of smashing it before the exam, since it was their baccalaureate paper, but now that they wanted to play with it a little, before they finally stopped playing inside the inexorable gear of life, it was not fair that they had to give it up just because he was not there!

He would never forgive himself for letting them down like that, after all the effort they had put into it... not to mention that he himself was having the most fun!

In fact, after hovering for a long time over the tops of the poplars behind the school, the handsome toy had snagged one of them in a somewhat reckless acrobatic manoeuvre, and had crashed down with a broken wing like a duck in step, felled by a malicious shot.

Oh! Not that he enjoyed shooting down ducks, the prof, but watching them fly, yes, and, indeed, he believed that work should be fun: only then can one do it with the greatest commitment and the best results, and if one disregards the idiocy of his bureaucratism, even a teacher's work can be fun.

Sacchi had also enjoyed the aerial display in the sky of San Lazzaro, had told Pignatti about it, and the latter, in turn, had told him about the site that the mechanics Professor had put on line for the exams.

So he too had poked around on the web pages, and was really impressed, looking back over the development of the project through all those beautiful photographs... kudos! Even from his lab technician... and that was saying a lot for 'hated' mechanics.

"Not hated. Antonio is like me, and he doesn't care about religious wars. - Said Battista - You may not know it, but he helped me more out of friendship, than his colleagues in the address who owed him, but when needed they vanished into thin air."

Sacchi approved. All that rancour between mechanics and electronics was absurd... ",,,even if when there's a chair involved,' he observed, 'for some people it's worse than if it were their wife! "

"And they keep it by spitefulness? Come on! What's more, all this panic over the place is a big set-up, because the limited number of places is enough to balance out the enrolments: those who work hard in time go where they want, and the last ones take what's left.

But in his opinion, there was no need for imaginary enemies and ideological shores to stem the exodus of Italians from factories and students from technical schools, nor was it necessary to renounce dignity in order to grab a few more by picking up dunces and then promoting them and themselves with ridiculous grades of forgery!

Surprisingly, the colleague agreed on everything. Not without a little calculation of convenience, perhaps. He wanted to get into freelancing a bit, in fact, and knowing that Battista had an ultra-modern practice, he wanted to ask him if he could join.

"Nice three-dimensional views!" He commented.

" Thank you. I'm glad someone appreciates. He thinks we've been designing in 3D for thirteen years now, but here they keep saying 'you don't need it!' So, in order to teach it I had to put it a little bit out of order in the design area.... But it was still quite a success, I'd say."

Sacchi confirmed with conviction: "In our subjects, it should also be compulsory to practise outside, otherwise we lose sight of the overall perspective and get bogged down in abstruse school exercises, which the kids hate. What would you say if we got together?"

Flattered, Battista noted that the chemistry with the other was good, but unfortunately, he had no money for a collaborator. However, if it wasn't money that Sacchi was looking for, he could also reflect on that proposal: 'Indeed, in a studio there should be at least two people working full-time. All the more so now, that with the unified Professorships spread over the entire province to take up to the last minute, school practically takes us all day long. "

In order to get together, however, there were even more stringent conditions, such as the need to get along... but although obvious, with Battista this was by no means a given.

With Sacchi, however, the problem did not even arise. At least according to him.

Designing on the computer was not difficult, but to become operational took a lot of practice. And in addition to CAD, Sacchi would also have to familiarise himself a little with mechanics, so a whole year of rowing like a slave without making much progress was to be reckoned with.

Nevertheless, the interested party did not give up, so Battista invited him to take a look at the place to see what it was all about, and gave him an appointment in his office.

After all, Gabriel's views seemed quite compatible with his own, despite the suspicious quip about 'not giving a damn'. For example, he couldn't even stand smoking cigarettes, unlike his other oddball colleague, who in the middle of a school term had thrown in his face that he had never taken drugs as if it were a misdemeanour. He protested that in the students' room for extra-curricular activities perhaps m*******a was grown, instead of music, and if it wasn't grown, it was definitely smoked, and that one: 'But they're kids, come on! Who hasn't had a joint as a kid?"

"Maybe you're looking at one! "Proud as a proclamation, his reply had been delayed just long enough to overcome his bewilderment; nevertheless, to the other's ears it must have produced the effect of a bakelite record: "Then you were already old at fifteen, and it shows!" He had sentenced, in fact, squaring him with a disgusted air.

It is not known how the squabble ended, but fortunately Gabriele was less 'borderline' than the freak. Moreover, he probably was rich, to hear of the beautiful house he owned in the city centre where he lived alone, and the catamaran he kept in Cervia. So it wouldn't have been a problem financially, indeed. Not to mention that an extra electronics expertise would certainly have expanded GB-TECH's potential, so it was really worth looking into his proposal a bit more.

Tanned and bejewelled like a miracle woman, Maurer appeared on the threshold of the bar and the new school year with a wicked grin.

"Ah, Battista! I was just thinking of you!"

"What an honour! Would you like to invite me to dinner?"

"I'll have to ask my husband first, but in the meantime I'm thinking of you, you know, and when they told me about the headmaster I immediately thought of you, who hates all bosses."

"You exaggerate, it's not like I'm paranoid!" He didn't detest anyone, in fact, although he actually considered it divine punishment to have to submit to certain types, and one of the reasons he had left the private sector in favour of school was precisely that intolerance.

" Which types ?" Sacchi inquired.

"You know the bullies in the old military service? No, you are too young. - Said Battista - Anyway, they swell up like turkeys on putting you under for no reason, because the cap is on their head."

"Once he was furious because Matitone had called him to Imola on a Saturday." The German teacher provoked him, wrinkling her nose in a smile.

He in turn grimaced: 'Just a moment, tell it all Gertrud. First, it was off my timetable, that the sixty kilometre round trip weighs a lot more… and that’s ok. Then I had to waste the whole morning just to be there at 11 o'clock, twiddling my thumbs for a quarter of an hour for a last-minute substitution... and patience. But harassing the new guy like that, BECAUSE THOSE FROM IMOLA GO TO THE MARKET ON SATURDAYS, would piss you off too! Or wouldn’t it?

She shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

"A good leader should first and foremost know how to motivate his people, but people are not motivated by slights."

"But unfortunately it is the rule, and sometimes it seems like a stinker contest. Matitone is a holy man compared to this one.... Do you know that he withheld a day's pay from my marriage leave?"

One could hardly believe it, but it was true.

"And just about this time, that is, basically DURING THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS!!! A gift I still can't swallow to this day."

"You can tell he was jealous!" Battista teased her.

He in turn grimaced: 'Just a moment, tell it all Gertrud. First, it was off my timetable, that the sixty kilometre round trip weighs a lot more… and that’s ok. Then I had to waste the whole morning just to be there at 11 o'clock, twiddling my thumbs for a quarter of an hour for a last-minute substitution... and patience. But harassing the new guy like that, BECAUSE THOSE FROM IMOLA GO TO THE MARKET ON SATURDAYS, would piss you off too! Or wouldn’t it?

She shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

"A good leader should first and foremost know how to motivate his people, but people are not motivated by slights."