brilliant genetic engineers of the age, but a master marketer of his persona as well as his knowledge. It was the cause for a split ballot; some respected him, others loathed him. Curnow fell one-hundred percent into the later camp.
The professor grinned and at once began to lay out a course of action in his mind. He would not embarrass the dean or the department by attacking Omega directly at this interview as he had previously thought to do. No, for the time being, he would be insidiously gracious and polite. He would acquiesce to Annie Groff and the rest and would not cast a ballot against bringing the Great Wizard aboard CSU’s ship. But in his heart, he was steeled: James Omega was a man who needed watching, and he was the one who would do it.
3
BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE
Anna Dawn Hamlyn prepared to enter her new apartment, balancing a fully-loaded laundry basket of immaculately folded clothes topped with some twenty plastic hangers, plus an open box of sheet music sitting atop that.
It had been a long two-day drive from Texas to Fort Collins. She was already bushed and there was no one to help her unpack the car and haul her things up to the third floor. So, here she was, arms full of stuff and the key to the apartment lost in her purse.
Biting her tongue to keep from saying something her Aunt Carol wouldn’t have approved of, she leaned against the doorjamb, balancing the laundry pile with one hand while struggling to unzip the purse with the other. A centimeter at a time, the zipper finally slid open and she managed to retrieve the key with two fingers. Now, all she had to do was get the key in the lock.
She readjusted her load once again and made the attempt. At that very moment, her wire-rimmed glasses decided to tilt sideways and a mischievous lock of red hair fell impishly forward, blocking her vision. She tried blowing it away with an impatient “poof,” but it only landed back exactly where it was. Undaunted, she slipped the key into the lock blind, pushed open the door with her hip, and battled her way through the doorway by feel.
“Made it!” she cried triumphantly as she stepped over the threshold. This would have been true, except that the heel of her shoe, in keeping with the insolent nature of the eyeglasses and lock of hair, had to do its part to cause problems. It caught on a braided rug she didn't expect and couldn't see.
She felt herself falling and panic took over. For a moment she successfully counterbalanced, overcorrected, then gravity took over. With a shriek, she went down and everything went with her. She hit the floor hard amidst a cascade of garments, a thunderstorm of hangers and an avalanche of sheet music.
She lay for a moment with her eyes tightly closed, afraid to open them. Other than one elbow shooting sparks hot enough to make her eyes well with tears, she didn't think she was seriously hurt.
“Anna Dawn, you are such a klutz!” she moaned and looked about her in despair. “It’s amazing. You managed to do all this on your first load. Imagine what wondrous feats you can achieve with the next twenty loads waiting for you down in the car!”
She readjusted her glasses on her nose, then, groaning with the effort, pulled herself to her feet to begin bringing order to chaos.
“You're actually very good at putting things in order,” she told herself, cheerfully. “Unfortunately, you're even better at orchestrating disaster. Anna Dawn Hamlyn, you're a paradox, that’s what you are—a Franklin Planner with a paper shredder aptitude. Lord help you.”
Somehow, she got through the next two hours. In that time, despite the unfortunate introduction to her new home, she lugged up seven cardboard boxes, three suitcases, five houseplants and a very large musical instrument case. Then she unpacked her clothes, arranged them in the closet according to color, put away the dinnerware and pots and pans in the cupboards, stacked the canned goods on the shelves according to their food groups, spread a daisy-patterned tablecloth on the kitchen table, and placed a half dozen potted plants around the apartment according to their individual requirements for sunlight. Finally, she attacked the bed, pulling on the sheets, arranging the pillows and centering the bedspread exactly in place. She stood back, smoothed away a last, stubborn wrinkle on the bed, and dusted her hands.
“Perfect,” she said, proudly, “Anna Dawn, welcome to your new home!”
“Yikes,” she exclaimed, glancing at her watch. “It’s two-thirty already! I'm due at the Student Employment Office in an hour.”
Forgetting everything else, she pulled off her clothes, dashed into the shower stall and turned on the water.
For a moment, she stood under the warm, steamy water in total bliss. Then her eyes flew open.
“Oh no,” she groaned, realizing the awful truth; the towels were still in the car.
An hour later, Anna Dawn found herself sitting at the Colorado State University Student Employment Center, dressed, pressed and confident, filling out a job application. The personnel advisor sitting across from the neat, confident-appearing, redheaded girl watched her, never guessing the disheveled appearance of this same person sixty minutes earlier. Everything about the applicant’s grooming and person bespoke an immaculate attention to detail.
The advisor took the finished application from Anna Dawn’s hands and scanned it quickly, turning it from front to back.
“You're from Texas, Ms. Hamlyn?” she asked politely.
“Yes, Carpenter, a small town just outside of San Antonio.” Anna Dawn gave a nervous laugh. “Remember the Alamo!”
“Yes. Indeed. Well, judging by your resume´ and appearance, you give a very fine first impression,” the advisor said, smiling at her encouragingly.
“Thank you,” Anna Dawn blushed.
“Where are you staying, if I may ask?”
“I found an apartment not far from campus.”
“And some nice roommates, I hope?”
“No roommates. Just me and Bowlinda.”
“Bowlinda?” the advisor questioned.
Anna Dawn laughed. “My cello. We’re best friends.”
The advisor nodded. “I see. It says here you type 95 words a minute?”
“That's right,” Anna Dawn said.
“And what would you consider your other strengths?”
“Well, I'm a whiz with a computer. As you can see, I’ve had experience as both a secretary and a receptionist. I'm very organized and neat—you could eat off my desktop—and I enjoy meeting people.”
“Excellent. And your weaknesses?”
Anna Dawn hesitated. “Well, I've been told by my previous roommates I tread a bit too closely to the neatnik edge of sanity.”
The personnel advisor smiled.
“By the way,” Anna Dawn added, “I'm looking for just a part-time position so I can attend school.”
“Of course.
