#doppler thatch

@dxlbert

All things considered, Milo was a friendly introvert, socially awkward yes, but not socially uncomfortable necessarily. He liked people, in other words. He liked his coffee breaks with fellow professors or going to lectures with a group of them, all sitting quietly in their rows with their notepads balanced on their knees, pen poised to take notes. He enjoyed visiting Chapter Three and jabbering on about this or that to Belle and of course he liked being out and about with Jane, though most of their activities took them to the Next Town Over and Jane certainly took the lead. One could call Milo Thatch many things then but he was not shy. He was clumsy, clueless, and overeager, but never shy.

So when a new professor came to Pride University, of course Milo wanted, at once, to introduce himself. When he heard that this Dr. Doppler was actually around his age (!!), Milo became even more excited. Because Milo loved his professor friends, but there were only a handful like him-- freshly 30-ish, the bulk of one’s academic accomplishments still ahead (Dr. Sweet sort of counted, but he was mostly a doctor; Flik Foley was an adjunct like him, but spent his bulk with secondary school). Milo’s colleagues in his own department had already done their most important field studies. They were now editors of journals, society members, departmental heads. They still stayed active naturally, still did research and published papers, but most could be done at the desk, where behind them rows of certificate and awards lauded their lifetime of accomplishments.

Also, most of them had families. You know, like-- children and grandchildren and timeshares. Milo was still wearing his grandfather’s ties (both for sentimental reasons and I’m-too-poor-to-afford-good-ties reasons). He had his second girlfriend, ever. He wanted contemporaries who could relate to that.

Thus, Milo was practically bouncing on his toes when he arrived at Delbert Doppler’s office. The door was slightly ajar and Milo wasted no time knocking his knuckles against the wood of it and peering in. He saw what he assumed was Dr. Doppler’s back hunched over some boxes. Milo announced himself: