Encounter #3

Or "It's not Easy Beating Greene"

A Lecherous Professor receives his Just Deserts

The pretty young brunette hustled out of the history professor's office, her khaki skirt and orange blouse waving in the breeze made by the quickness of her departure.

"Thank you for coming Diana, I'll make the following changes to your grade," the history professor said, and then zipped up his pants.

History professor Caesar Greene was one of the most popular professors at the Midwestern university. It has been said by many students and teachers alike that he was able to make history "come alive," because he put so much passion and energy into his subject. When he taught about the Thirty Years War, the students would feel like they were there on the front lines watching the troops charge and hear the roar of the cannons. They would almost think he knew Napoleon personally from the way the professor gave the military leader's life story. Because of him, there has been a popular interest of history, with many students wanting to choose that subject as their major. Most of Greene's classes would be filled to capacity, as his passion for history would rub off on even the more resilient students.

Unfortunately, history was not the only thing professor Greene had a passion for.

Every now and then, the fifty-something Doctor Greene would "invite" or hold a "meeting" with attractive young women about how they could "improve their grade." With his looks similar to Harrison Ford when he played the role of Indiana Jones (except Greene wore a mustache), women were delighted when they were asked to come to his office. Most were still flattered when they found out the good professor wanted to do a little more than just talk about extra credit and raising their grade.

For Doctor Greene the procedure was simple. While he lectured in his classes, he would look around for women who caught his fancy or "earned his favor," then very subtly make his move. Women who were aware of this would dress a little more daring to catch his eye. The price for an increased grade, or "extra credit" would be a morning, afternoon, or evening of passion, depending upon the student's schedule, and sworn secrecy of the event. Needless to say, some women were traumatized by the encounter, but they were to remain silent with the reality that there was nothing they could do about it.

Despite the amazing fact that Greene has had many one-night stands with his students, it was even more amazing that he never got caught. There would be rumors, but nothing could ever be proven. The alleged meetings with some of his students were sandwiched in between legitimate meetings with other students to conceal the evidence. Even rival professors who had these suspicions could not find any evidence, because the few witnesses were silent, plus with his tenure, and being one of the most popular professors on campus and the tri-state area, Greene was a most immovable object.

As he walked around his large office located on the third floor of the Social Sciences building, Greene sat down at his desk, where he had a framed picture of himself along with his wife and his three grown children. He thought about a belief the European kings exercised, called the Divine Right of Kings, which was another way of saying that if you're royalty, you can do anything you want.

Well I'm treated like royalty here, Greene thought, so why not? He laughed to himself, and then started working on grading a small pile of papers from his Reformation History class. He had long since called home and told his wife that he would be working late that evening.

Outside the office window was a tall tree. Sometimes Greene would open the window when he worked late to listen to the leaves rustling in the breeze, the birds singing or some of the school's many squirrels jumping from branch to branch.

He was a quarter of the way through the papers when he heard a soft "thump" coming from one of the tree's branches.

Sounds like one of those squirrels had gained a little weight, Greene mused to himself.

Next, the professor felt the cool evening breeze blow through the open window and caress the back of his shoulders. Professor Greene stopped his grading as the sudden realization hit him.

He didn't open the window.

He put down his red pen and swiveled his chair to gaze at the window that was now wide open. As if on cue, half the ceiling lights in the office were suddenly switched off. Greene swiveled back toward the front of the office where the light switches were. He saw that one of the light switches was indeed turned off, but nobody was there.

"Doctor Caesar Greene, I presume," a feminine voice said from the darkness.

After he nearly jumped out of his chair, Greene recovered enough to address the unseen intruder.

"Who are you? How did you get in here? Show yourself!" He said.

Stepping out of the darkness was an interesting sight. The intruder happened to be a woman - a black woman it appeared from what Greene was able to see of her ' who was tall, from 5'10 to 6'0", wearing a modest black bikini and a black cape that fastened around her neck, and hung down to her waist. It fluttered a little in the breeze that came though the window. To top it off, she was wearing a black hood that covered everything but her eyes, similar to what executioners wore when they would dispatch the condemned with an ax.

Her body also caught Greene's attention. The two-piece bikini was just an average swimsuit, but it could not hide the build of the woman who wore it. Starting with the legs, from the bare arches of her feet up to the calves and thighs, the muscles were so well developed, and looked so hard, they could've belonged to a sculpted statue. The stomach muscles stood out on her like small brown ridges. If she had any body fat, Greene was hard-pressed to find it. The arms were muscular, but not bulky. Greene guessed the face was probably attractive too. The end result of what he saw was a fine mixture of femininity and raw power.

Yet there was something about that body that seemed familiar somehow, but he couldn't place a finger on it. After what seemed like a long moment, the woman spoke again.

"Question: what was the name of a group of assassins and spies in 15^th century Japan?" The woman asked.

"What kind of question is that? You came in unannounced, so I should be asking the questions," Greene said.

"No, no, no, you can't win if you don't play, Dr. Greene," the woman said, waving a long index finger in his direction. "Now, who were these assassins, and what art did they practice?"

"Ninjas and the art they practiced was called ninjutsu," Greene said slowly.

"How did they enter enemy strongholds?"

"Well they used a variety of ways, like disguising themselves as a common peasants, swimming through bodies of water that were adjacent to the castle, or by climbing the walls of the stronghold." Greene froze, and then looked back toward the open window. "Is this a sorority prank?"

"Question: In Greek mythology, what was the name of the goddess of wisdom and war?" The woman continued.

Greene's eyes widened with recognition. "That would be Athena. Wait a minute, that group disbanded several years ago," he said.

It appeared like the woman was smiling, but with the mask on, it was hard to determine. "This question isn't in your area of expertise, but I think you can answer it with no problem," she said. "What is the name of an American marsupial mammal that uses the tactic of "playing dead' whenever confronted by an enemy?"

"A possum." Greene quickly understood the inference. "So your group has laid dormant all this time, and now you have appeared again. That is interesting indeed. So what does this have to do with me?"

"Question: In the book of Daniel, King Belshazzar and a thousand of his nobles were at a great banquet, using goblets that were stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly a hand appeared and wrote these words on the wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. What did those words mean, and what happened to the king afterwards?"

"Well, according to the biblical account, the king summoned Daniel to translate for him. Loosely translated, the meaning was that God had numbered the days of his kingdom and brought it to an end. He was weighed on the scales and found wanting, and his kingdom would be divided between two rival nations. Later that evening, the king was slain, and one of the rival kings took his place. I don't understand the reference."

"Question," the woman persisted with a bit of an edge to her voice, "Name an American president who was accused of sexual relations with one of his interns."

"Bill Clinton," Greene said defensively. "Are you accusing me of-"

"Question!" The woman said sternly. "Who was the woman who you at one time called your heir apparent, the woman you thought could take your place once you retired." She halted for a moment, then added in a near whisper, "The woman you considered leaving your wife for?"

The recognition hit Greene like a lightning bolt. "Danielle! Danielle, is it you?"

Greene's encounters with his female students were intended to be one-night stands; that was the general understanding. However with Danielle, it was a different matter. The woman who was a junior at the time a few years ago shared a love and passion for history that equaled Greene's. The professor couldn't help but fall in love with her personality and drive for life.

Eventually the brief, six-month clandestine affair had gotten to the point where a decision had to be made, and Greene made the decision to stay with his wife and family, which Danielle understood. However it wasn't the decision to end the affair that was the most painful for Danielle, it was the way it was ended.

After both decided that it was over, one day at the end of class, Danielle received back one of her research papers with an "F" written at the top. Danielle, who normally gets high grades for her papers, was enraged and confused, and stormed over to Greene's office for an explanation. He said via his secretary that the reason was plagiarism and appropriate action would be taken.

For Danielle, what happened next was catastrophic, a scene that equaled her worst nightmares. Although there was no clear evidence (or any evidence at all) of her alleged copying, through Greene's use of his pull on campus amongst the appropriate administrators, Danielle was accused of plagiarism and received the penalty of immediate expulsion from the university, and her full scholarship that she received in track and field was stripped away. The student who had dreams of becoming a history professor at the very university she attended was now an outcast without a voice to declare her innocence.

At the hearing that announced Danielle's expulsion, Greene, who had to attend according to the school's rules, saw Danielle look back at him with a look that he will remember to his dying day. It wasn't a look of anger, nor a look of grief; instead she looked back and silently voiced the word "Why?" It was then that Greene realized he made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Because he was afraid people would find out about them, he didn't just end an affair, he ended a woman's academic life.

"Yes, Caesar, it is I," Danielle said.

"Since I know who you are, I think the need for masks has ended, don't you think?" Greene said.

"You're right, Caesar, no more masks." Danielle reached up to take off her mask.

When Greene last saw Danielle those few years ago, he remembered her attractive face and long beautiful black hair that hung below her shoulders. What Greene saw at that moment was shocking. Danielle's face was still beautiful, but the long black hair was gone. In its place was a clean-shaven bald scalp, as smooth as a polished wooden table. The ceiling lights showed a dull reflection against the top of her head.

"Oh Danielle, your hair!" Greene moaned. "What did they do to you?"

"Question!" Danielle said. "Why?"

"Why? Why what?"

"You know the question; why?"

"You'll have to explain what-"

"Why did you ruin my life?" Danielle demanded.

"I was afraid you would tell," Greene said in a low voice, looking down at his desk.

"Caesar, even after we broke up, I swore to you that no matter what happened, I would tell no one of our affair, and I kept my word. Even at that hearing when you had me expelled, when I had a chance to bring things out in the open and expose you, take you down with me, I never told a soul. After all we shared, you should've trusted me."

"So what happened after you left?" Greene asked, changing the subject.

"After I was expelled, you mean; I didn't leave, I was thrown out by you. I wasn't sure what to do at first, except go back home, find a job, find another school and start from scratch. Then one day while I was packing my things away in my dorm room, two women came by who were members of the Daughters of Athena. Somehow they heard of my plight and offered to take me under their wing. The next semester, they enrolled me in another university an hour away from here. I finished my history degree ' no thanks to you ' and now I'm almost finished with my master's degree in that area. I'm already teaching a few classes there, and it looks like I'll even have a position waiting for me when I receive my doctorate."

"That's great, Danielle," Greene said, happy, but a little wary. "But I don't think you should be hanging around these Athena women."

"Why not? In a way, they saved my life that you almost destroyed. They sponsored me at this university and they have helped improve my body and spirit while I'm improving my mind."

"Yes, I see the progress."

"They believe that all the parts of a human being, body, mind, and spirit should be unified for a single purpose; it's like you become the ultimate instrument or weapon for that cause."

"I, I am glad you came by to let me know you're okay," Greene replied, "but why did you come to me at night through my three story window dressed like that?"

"Once I joined up with the Daughters of Athena, they encouraged me to do two things; reflect on how my present circumstances led me here and after my initial training to settle my personal accounts, if possible."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I knew how I ended up here, I already mentioned that. I also realized as I paid for my indiscretion, you have not. I realized I was not the first student you slept with, and I was not the last. I was too late to help that one girl; Diana was her name, wasn't it? However, I'm here to make sure it doesn't happen again. As for my wearing a bikini, it gives me full freedom of movement for what I plan to do."

"What are you planning to do?"

"Why, to beat you to a pulp, Caesar."

Greene started to slowly push his chair away from his desk. "Danielle, let's not be rash about this," he said, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Oh, I'm not being rash, I thought it all out," Danielle said as she stepped toward the desk. Greene watched, uncertain of what would happen next.

"Question: What is the name for the Greek goddess of the hunt?" Danielle said as she took another two steps toward Greene's desk.

"Artemis," Greene said mechanically.

"Yes, that's my new name, and I have now captured my prey."

In one big leap, Danielle/Artemis landed on top of Greene's desk, her black toenails almost seeming to grip onto the hardwood surface. With blinding speed, she thrust her hands underneath Greene's armpits and yanked the professor out of his seat, then threw him on the hard floor in front of his desk. Stunned by the landing, Greene laid there, unbelieving of the newfound show of strength he just witnessed. Artemis jumped off the desk and stood over him.

"D-Danielle," Greene started.

"Artemis," she corrected. "It's Artemis now."

"You don't want to do this."

"Yes Caesar, I do. And the neat thing about this is you won't tell a soul."

"I won't?"

"No, you won't tell because the woman who will assault you is also the woman you had expelled from college, who is also the student you had an affair with. To give me away would be to give your future away. Rather ironic, really."

As Greene lay there, the cold hard reality of the matter set in. He could not accuse his would-be assailant without opening up a Pandora's box worth of trouble. If the university found out he framed his former student, he would lose his job along with everything else.

Artemis seemed to read Greene's thoughts.

"As you see, now I'm free to beat you," she said as she licked her lips lustfully. "among other things. You know, you look real good lying there. Very well, we'll have one last fling, only this time, we'll do it my way."

Daisy Martin, Greene's secretary, had worked for the professor since he started teaching at the university. She's loyal, dependable, organized, and the only person who knows about all of Greene's affairs with his students. Having found out early of Greene's extramarital activities, the history teacher guaranteed her silence the best way he knew how ' a raise. With a pay raise every year, Christmas bonuses, and two weeks paid vacation, all she had to do was her job, and look the other way.

Her silence had paid off in a big way. All four of her children had been sent through college, and she and her husband have gone on annual cruises because of it.

Daisy was also working late as well. As she was finishing up her paperwork, she heard moans and some pleading from Greene's office. For her that was nothing new; sometimes the good professor can be a little rough with his young students. However, something about those cries for mercy sounded different. As she listened more closely, she realized they weren't the cries of a woman, they came from Dr. Greene!

That's unusual, Daisy thought, didn't that one girl leave some time ago? Just at that moment, Greene's moans of protest became blood-curdling screams, followed by an animalistic howl of ' ecstasy? - that sounded like it came from a woman.

Daisy quickly rose from her chair and headed toward the door. Something was wrong. Pact of silence or not, she's not going to stand by while someone was getting hurt.

She opened the door, and was shocked by the sight that was before her. Professor Caesar Greene was almost literally a broken man. Both of his arms and his left leg were bent at unnatural angles, along with a few bruises on his face. She checked his pulse, which was beating strong, but the pain from his broken limbs must have made him pass out. His breathing appeared to be a little ragged, suggesting the possibility of broken ribs. As Daisy examined her employer, she saw that Greene's pants and underwear were yanked down almost to his knees. It looked like he was sexually assaulted as well as beaten.

Realizing she spent too much time thinking and not acting, Daisy grabbed Greene's phone and dialed 911. After she called, she did what she could to make him comfortable while the ambulance was on its way. The whole situation had her shocked and more than a little perplexed.

No one can come and go out of Greene's office without going by her, she thought. Diana was the last person to leave the office, but that was over 20 or 30 minutes ago. Whoever was responsible couldn't still be in the room; otherwise she would've seen them. And Greene couldn't have done this to himself, so what happened?

Daisy felt a cool breeze that made her shiver a little more than she was already. Then with unbelieving eyes, she turned toward the open window.

*****

[No actual history professors were harmed in the writing of this story. Apologies to Kermit the Frog in the lyric twisting of his song in the subtitle.]

For comments, suggestions, or story ideas, send e-mail to shrewsberry@juno.com.