The End- Or, Perhaps the Beginning

I work occasionally at a gigantic high school, with three and a half floors and several stairways that lead to some floors, but not others. There is also a giant indoor mall type area for kids to hang out and eat lunch, and on the other side of that are several gyms. I usually go early, because I always get lost.

The other day, on a quest for "Room 30," I descended a stairway and found myself between two sets of large locked doors: one set in front of me, one behind me. I probably didn't have time (well, I know I didn't really have time) but I took a picture of them:




These doors and the way I came across them took me suddenly away from myself. There was such mystery to them. Why a stairway to sets of locked doors? What a concept. Large, imposing, almost religious in their grandeur, these doors made me feel like I was on the cusp of something magical. I was small and powerless compared to their large, pointy lockedness.

I have, on other occasions, taught on the "Second and a half" floor of this building, and once also found a stairway leading up to a door leading up to a hallway leading through another classroom finally to the classroom where I was to teach!

Time not being on my side, I ran back up the stairs. And then the bell rang and I found Room 30*, discovered my sub keys didn't work in the door, had to find the office again, they had to call someone, get the right key, I went down again, opened the door just as the tardy bell rang, no clue what was in store for me for the day... and it all went perfectly fine, of course.


* I finally found the classroom with the help of a kind teacher who explained that I should "just think of this building like a "U" shape" - although I only realized later it's not a U shape at all, but more like an irregular Lego building that Little Zelma would build, with several layers jutting out in irregular patterns.