Later that afternoon, the chair of the English department, Dr. Howard Miller, called Caroline to his office.
What an unwelcoming room, she thought, looking through the open door. The desk, though mahogany, stood stark and undecorated, housing only the computer, a set of black plastic stacking trays and an oversized calendar. Two broad oak chairs in a pale stain that clashed with the darkness of the desk had been placed across from the professor’s second-hand, black leather office chair.
Cheap metal bookshelves ringed the walls, but no cheerful novels added color. Only heavy old textbooks lent their musty breath to the lifeless space. The window had white plastic blinds, but no curtains.
She knocked on the open door.
He glanced up, the fluorescent light flashing on the top of his shiny
