Something Weird Happened in Lab

It all started last November. I sat in my second floor office at the University of Toledo chatting with my classmates and refreshing the weather forecast on my computer. As Late afternoon gave way to evening, I glanced at my motorcycle helmet, and stood to look out the office window yet again. The skies were still gray as they had been for the past several hours and a steady drizzle continued to fall over the campus. I decided the mist wasn't going to let up anytime soon, and if I wanted to make it home at some decent hour, I would have to brave the late autumn weather and ride in the rain. I strapped on my helmet, said my goodbyes, and headed for the door. But I'll finish this story in due time.

At present, I want to recap a short series of events that took place this morning in my 8:00am introductory physics lab. I arrived at the university around 7:50, gathered my teaching materials, and headed down the hall to my lab. Being an early morning lab, several of my students didn't make it to class on time, but I didn't want to keep the punctual students waiting so I started class. As the minutes ticked by the stragglers showed up one at a time, and by 8:10 only one student remained unaccounted for. According to my grade sheet his name was Jeremy Arnold. This was only my third time seeing the class, and I have over a hundred students, so it was no surprise that I couldn't immediately picture a face to accompany the name. But still, the name sounded familiar.

"Does anyone remember working with Jeremy last week?" I asked.

Two guys working near the door looked up and said, "He was with us."

"Do you know where he is?"

"We haven't heard from him," they replied.

Jeremy Arnold had attended class both of the previous two weeks, so I didn't want to mark him absent too hastily thinking that he may just be running severely late. I continued trying to picture the boy with such a familiar name, but couldn't come up with a face. Week three is the point in the semester when I've learned most of my students first names, but last names are still mostly unknown, so I found it striking how familiar this particular student's full name sounded. I considered for a minute how else I might have known him or at least known his name, but nothing came to mind.

I made the rounds to each lab group answering questions and ensuring that everyone was making progress then returned to my center table. My mind wandered, as it often does, and I found myself again trying to remember how I knew Jeremy Arnold. I thought briefly that he shared a name with one of my favorite students from the previous semester, but after digging out my old grade sheet I found that my former student was indeed named Jeremy, but had a different last name. The mystery remained unsolved. Why on earth did his name ring so familiar to me, and further, why was I still thinking about it? Finally I started to consider that maybe it was nothing. His first and last name are both fairly common after all. Maybe I was just confusing some other similar name from a long-forgotten time in my past, or maybe I had just thought about the name so much that it was beginning to play tricks on me like when you say the word shovel too many times in a row and it doesn't sound like a real word anymore. I was just about to give up on making a connection when the realization hit me like a freight train. My mind immediately went back to that November day almost a year ago.

Having accepted the displeasing conclusion that I would have to ride home in the rain I started my bike and let it warm up. I left campus heading west on Dorr St and decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get a little wet on the ride home. After all it kind of reminded me of my trip to California a few years earlier. As I approached Byrne Rd, the traffic light turned from green to yellow. It was a notoriously long yellow light, and on another day I would have gone ahead with my left turn, but on this day I didn't. I was in no particular hurry and decided to play it safe in the rain. I came to a gentle stop at the white line. A second later I heard squealing tires behind me and began to look back. A crash rang out, and I felt my bike lurch forward under the force of the car behind me. I managed to stay on my feet, but the bike sailed forward and fell on its side. Nice stop jackass.

After I realized what had happened, and that I was actually unharmed, I turned off my bike, picked it up, and shot a nasty look at the driver that had hit me. He looked apologetic, and pulled his car off to the side of the road. I followed him, pushing my bike the short distance to the curb. He immediately said he was sorry and ensured that I was okay. As we began to exchange information, he handed me a Michigan drivers license that informed me his name was Jeremy Arnold.

That was it! I had made the connection! I glanced at my grade sheet one more time to ensure that it really was the same name and then wondered how I could have gone two weeks without realizing who this kid was. The night of the crash he seemed genuinely apologetic and since the contents of my backpack had been getting thoroughly soaked in the rain, I decided I would get his information and leave without waiting for the police to arrive and file a formal report. Jeremy seemed genuinely willing to settle his debt to me at the time; little did I know how evasive he would become. But now, now that he was in my lab, I may have gotten another opportunity. I needed more details.

"Do you guys know Jeremy outside of class?" I asked approaching his previous lab partners.

"No we just met him in here," they answered.

"Well, do you see him in lecture?"

They looked at each other and told me that neither of them were in the same lecture section as Jeremy, and that they really hadn't seen him outside of lab.

"Thanks, maybe we'll see him next week."

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So that, faithful readers, is the weird thing that happened in lab today. And now I have so many questions to consider. Will he show up next week? Did he realize who I was and drop my class? If so, did he switch to a different section. If he comes back next week, what should I do? If he doesn't come back what should I do? Will I ever get the money he owes me?

I will definitely update this post as details unfold, but in the meantime, Leave any thoughts or ideas as comments.

Love, Joshy Woshy

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UPDATE on 26 September:
Well, it's been two weeks and Jeremy hasn't shown up to lab yet. He's missed the last three now. But according to the school web portal, he is still officially registered for my section. I'm not sure hoe frequently that updates, so I'm going to go to the department office tomorrow and see if I can get any information about current registration from them.

UPDATE on 14 October:
According to the department's official registration list, Jeremy is still signed up for my lab, and the instructors for other sections assure me that he has not been attending their sections either. I got his Student ID number and course schedule from the department secretary because, you know, he's my student and I'm afraid he's going to fail my class... My next step will be to contact his lecturer and see if he is attending lectures.