Bear Hunting

Chapter 3: What Blue Doesn’t Know

Chapter 3: What Blue Doesn’t Know

“When did you speak to Dave King?” Toby inquires about his best friend, wanting to walk around the desk, rip the clothes off the bear, and lick every part of the professor’s body, wetting his appetite with the guy.

“Who?” Blue asks, sharing a befuddled look with Toby, raising one eyebrow higher than the other. It’s sort of a comedic look, but real.

“Never mind.” Toby clears his throat and shakes his head. “You can’t use my blogs to teach with. I don’t like to share my work that way.”

“It’s pretty public online, though, isn’t it?” Blue argues, tilts his head ever so slightly to the right in confusion and confrontation.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t want you to use my craft as a teaching tool. It’s not intended for that kind of use.”

“What use is it intended for?”

“Entertainment purposes regarding queer bears in this city.”

“I don’t understand,” Blue says. He finds a seat in the metal office chair at his desk. The chair is sleek and aluminum, and quite handsome, just as he is.

“Let me be frank, Mr. Danning. The s**t I write is all fluff. You shouldn’t be teaching it to your students. You should maybe be teaching Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, or Truman Capote. Your students are paying a lot of money to attend this school and you shouldn’t rip them off by teaching about blogs.”

“Are you calling me a thief?”

Toby thinks about this for a second, purses his lips together, and nods. “That’s exactly what I’m calling you. My blogging has no literary value whatsoever. Any fool can figure that out. Templeton students deserve better. They should be learning how Willa Cather used to write.”

“Willa Cather?” Blue is surprised to hear that Toby knows who Willa Cather is and does a funky dance with his eyebrows again.

“And other famous authors, of course. Old and new.” Blue doesn’t know anything about Toby, does he? Blue is unaware that Toby graduated with an English degree from Templeton three years ago. Nor does Blue know that Toby was offered a job to teach at the college, but kindly rejected the position because the pay wasn’t all that fair. And Blue is totally in the dark about Toby’s once-affair with the previous English Department Dean at the college, Walter Bliar, which was quite the scandal back then since Walter was married for twenty years and had three sons.

Blue rubs his chin with two fingertips, widens his eyes, and says, “If I may be so bold to say, Mr. Cartwright, you have to rethink the opportunity I’m giving you.”

“Will the college be paying me a sum of money to use my work?”

Blue shakes his head and admits, “I highly doubt that. The English Department surely doesn’t have a budget like that.”

“How disappointing,” Toby says, stands, and begins his exit. Over his right shoulder, feeling smug and a little irritated at the moment, he says, “Thank you for wasting my time this afternoon, Mr. Danning.”

Blue doesn’t have time to respond. Another thing he doesn’t know about Toby is that the young man makes his exits quickly and without him hawing around.