Morbid

Arnold stood off to the side of the professor's desk and out of the way. If he had bothered to notice, he and the professor were the only men in the room that was full of young, and in some cases very beautiful, women. There were forty-three of them, including Amy and the six lab workers performing the specimen dissections. They were all dressed in every combination of outfits that a woman could ever wear. Jeans, pants, blouses, tank tops, t-shirts, skirts, shorts, frilly tops, dresses, and anything else you could think of.

Their hair colors and styles were also just as varied, as if they had coordinated it, because no two colors or styles were identical. They were also very loud and talked constantly about what they were observing and they would throw in a random question about what they did that weekend. Their conversations were erratic and difficult for non-participants to follow, even if Arnold had tried to follow them. He didn't.

“It's a wonderful sight, isn't it?” Professor Hamil Crenslav whispered. “Only lucky men like us can ever see such a sight.”

Arnold nodded, because he had never seen six specimens being worked on at once. He didn't realize that the professor meant all the good-looking women in the class. The professor wasn't lecherous or lusted after his students, since that would be wholly improper. He was still a man though, so he couldn't deny enjoying the sight of them.

“I will make an unobtrusive lap around the lab to observe and then I will start my specimen.” Hamil said and left the desk and Arnold watched as he expertly manoeuvred around the workstations and the groups of young women around them. He answered questions when he was occasionally noticed and then moved on.

Amy saw the professor make his token tour of the dissections and knew it was time to start her specimen as well. She excused herself from Cissily's side after praising her, then moved over to her workstation and waited until the professor was done and he went back to his desk. They both started their work at the same time and they were both lost to it.

Amy really was quite good and she did have quite proficient skills. She couldn't hold a candle to the professor's efficiency, however. He didn't waste any movements or energy as he worked and Arnold stared at him as he replayed his own learned techniques and mentally adjusted them to fit the professor's more efficient and deft motions.

They were in their own little world as they dissected their specimens and completed the task well before the lab workers did. The professor had his reassembled and prepared for viewing almost ten minutes before Amy finished hers. She didn't feel daunted in the least, since the professor had two decades of practical experience over her and she had only been his assistant for a year.

Twenty minutes later, each lab worker finished their specimens and reassembled them. All of the young women in the room let out a collective sigh and stepped back from the tables.

“Whew! What an ordeal!” One of them said. “My legs are killing me from standing up so long.”

Her friend laughed. “You can walk around the campus all day and standing still bothers you! Ha!”

“Oh, shut up. It's not the same.” She responded and the two of them laughed, as did a few others.

“You all did very well and I applaud your diligence in staying for the entire procedure.” Professor Crenslav said. “A special thanks to the lab workers as well. You all handled the pressure quite well.”

“I'm just glad it's fucking over!” Cissily said and everyone laughed, even the professor.

“Succinctly put, Miss Thomas.” Hamil said and attempted to give some eye contact to everyone. “Thank you all for being here. You may leave everything where it is and I'll see you tomorrow.”

“No clean-up?” One of the very pretty women asked and walked over to the professor. “Are you feeling okay, sir?”

Hamil chuckled. “I'm in a particularly good mood, so you best take advantage of it, Miss White.” He said. “Unless you would like to stay and help my assistants...”

“Is that my mother calling? Sorry, professor! I need to go!” Miss White said with a laugh, briefly touched the arm of his suit coat tenderly, then she left the lab.

Of course, once one left, that started the torrent of exiting women and their loud conversations started again. Most of them said goodbye to the professor as they passed and the six lab workers stood by the work stations and started to clean up.

Professor Hamil Crenslav waved at them. “You can leave as well.” He said. “Go eat and prepare for your normal afternoon classes.”

“You're the best, you arrogant little prick!” Cissily exclaimed loudly.

“CISSILY!” Amy yelled.

Hamil laughed. “It's all right, Miss Hollister. I know she's using it as a term of endearment.”

“I told you.” Cissily said to Amy and walked over to the professor. “You know I'd kiss your cheek if you would let me.”

“You only like me because I don't hold your incorrigible and blasphemous language choices against you.” Hamil said.

Cissily laughed and tugged on his suit coat lapels. “Damn right.” She said, leaned to the side slightly and made a kissing noise with her lips, then she left the lab and her hips swayed happily.

“Okay, that just happened.” Dianne said and the other four lab workers let out laughs. “I'll take you up on the offer, too.” She said and walked by Hamil. “Thank you, professor.”

“You're quite welcome, Miss Harris.” Hamil said and the others left as well. When it was just him, Amy, and Arnold, he spoke. “Amy, assist me in securing the specimens properly and storing them, now that everyone is out of the way and won't impede us.” He looked at Arnold. “If you could clean up the tools and clear the work stations while we do that, we should be done fairly quickly.”

Arnold nodded and stepped to the professor's desk and took out the clipboard and the handwritten inventory list, then went to the back of the lab to start the cleanup. Amy had a slight look of surprise and turned her head to look at the professor. She saw his smile and slight nod, and she understood that Arnold really was a better choice to take care of all the little details that would normally slow them down.

Amy helped the professor and properly stored the specimens for future use by the students and just as the professor had predicted, by the time they were done, Arnold had everything cleaned, graded, and put away. She was a bit surprised at how quickly he had done it, considering it had taken him an hour to set up six work stations and he just disassembled them and put everything back where it was supposed to go in less than half the time.

Arnold had also disassembled her workstation and the professor's and he came back into the lab with the clipboard. Without being asked, he sat down at the professor's desk and took out the laptop and brought up the inventory spreadsheet, added the new notations for the recently used equipment, then saved it and put the laptop and the clipboard away.

“Excellent work, Arnold.” Hamil said and looked around the now clean lab. “You can leave for lunch and by the looks of it, you won't need to come back after to finish cleaning up.”

“Is there anything else I can do, professor?” Arnold asked.

“We won't have to set up normal lab protocols for the students until the morning, so as long as you're here on time tomorrow, you can have the rest of the day off.”

Arnold nodded and left the lab.

“Sir, you should have let him prepare the displays for tomorrow.” Amy said.

“He did well today, and he didn't get in the way with all those people in here.” Hamil said. “He deserved some time off for that.”

“Sir, Arnold likes to work. If he has something to do, he'll do it until it's finished.”

Hamil gave her a skeptical look.

“I'll prove it after lunch, if you let me counter your order for time off.” Amy said. “I'll say that you forgot that you still needed his help.”

“Because I did.” Hamil chuckled and she nodded. “All right. I'll stay around to see your proof and I'll also see how he reacts to you ordering him around.”

Amy nodded and left the lab to grab something to eat from the cafeteria. She hoped that Cissily's observations about Arnold were right and that she didn't just hurt her reputation with the professor.

*

Arnold went to the cafeteria to get something to eat. He still wore his suit, so he stood out like a sore thumb among all of the men and women dressed casually. He ignored that and grabbed a tray, then stood in line and waited for it to move along.

“What can I get for you, sweetie?” The slightly overweight woman behind the long counter asked him.

Arnold asked for a couple of the things he recognized, which were two large breaded chicken breast pieces on a plate and french fries on another.

“Gravy?” She asked and he shook his head. “Anything for dessert, hon?”

Arnold didn't usually have dessert; but, he looked around and saw a lot of red jiggly things on a lot of trays around the large cafeteria. Since he didn't want to stand out too much, he pointed to a small bowl behind the counter.

“The red gelatin.” Arnold said and she handed it to him.

“Anything else?” She asked.

“Soda.”

“There's a dispenser at the end by the register. Just tell them you're getting a drink, too.”

“Thank you.” Arnold said and moved down the counter and waited in line for the register. “Soda, too.” He said to the young woman that sat on the stool there. She rang up his purchases and handed him a plastic cup.

“It's self-serve.” She said and he looked at the dispenser. She let out a sigh and took his cup. “What flavor do you want?”

“Root Beer.” Arnold said and she pushed the cup under the dispenser and it gushed water and syrup out in equal measure.

She stopped with the cup nearly full. “Do you want ice in it?”

“No.” Arnold said and she popped the dispenser a little more to fill the cup completely, grabbed a top and popped it on and put it on the tray.

“I don't usually do this for people, you know.” She said and sat back down, then took Arnold's money and gave him change. “I guess you didn't want to get your nice suit dirty in case it splashed on you.”

“I've never used a soda dispenser before.” Arnold said and walked away and didn't see her as she looked at him with her mouth slightly open.

“ARNOLD! You handsome DEVIL!” Cissily said and stood up and waved. “Over here!”

That got everyone's attention even more than having someone close to six feet tall wearing a suit did. Arnold walked over to where Cissily was and more than a few people asked who the guy in the suit was.

“I can't believe they let you out of the lab without cleaning it up first.” A redheaded woman said from across the table as Arnold sat down beside Cissily.

“It's cleaned up and the specimens are stored, too.” Arnold said and started to eat.

“No fucking way!” Cissily exclaimed. “How did you guys do that?”

“Efficiently.” Arnold said and the other girls at the table laughed.

“So, Professor Crenslav really did hire another assistant.” A woman dressed in a business suit said as she walked over to the table. Her long black hair was pulled back from her face and tied up in a tight ponytail.

Cissily started to sigh and caught herself. “Hello, Ms. Power.”

“You should call me professor.” Ms. Power said.

“I'm not in your department.” Cissily responded and the woman smiled.

“I'm surprised you're even talking to this man, considering he took your job.” Ms. Power said to Cissily with a crooked smile. “Fareena is your best friend and you should be her assistant.”

“You're not going to make me angry about this.” Cissily said. “Arnold is much better at the job than I would be.”

“Oh? That's surprising.” Ms. Power said. “You never admit your faults.”

“I didn't say I was bad at it. I said he was better. There's a difference.” Cissily said.

“If you say so.” Ms. Power said and held a hand out to Arnold. “I'm Professor Felicia Power, head of the Chemistry Department. It's nice to meet you.”

“Why?” Arnold asked and kept eating.

“What?”

“People have said that to me a few times.” Arnold said. “Why is it nice to meet me?”

Everyone at the table fell silent. Ms. Power couldn't think of a good response to that, since it was a throwaway line that people said automatically when greeting each other. Her hand slowly lowered back to her side as her mind dithered over the problem Arnold just gave her. She looked around at the other people at the table and saw various states of surprise on their faces.

Ms. Power took a breath, opened her mouth as if to speak and realized it was too late to recover after pausing for so long, so she turned around and walked away.