Apparently the topic of the class was the presidential campaign of 1976. We were studying on a map, which the man had in the front of the room, the itinerary of vice-president Walter Mondale as he campaigned in 1976. Mondale was also in the room and stood behind me. At one point someone asked whether Jimmy Carter could have won if Mondale had been the vice presidential candidate for both Carter and Gerald Ford. The professor said, "No, Ford would have won."

At that point I looked around at Mondale, who seemed to agree with the statement. His tie was a bit askance.

The professor went on to show that Mondale's responsibility in the campaign had been to visit small rural communities in an effort to sweep up votes. He showed, using the map, how Mondale had visited one small town three times. I thought to myself that he had probably taken on a lover there.

Then, by use of another map, he showed that the population centers were in other areas and he displayed a large map of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The map however showed that Pittsburgh had the shore of an ocean on its west side. Philadelphia was farther inland on the east side.

The professor seemed like a friendly person. Since the other students weren't responding much, I decided to ask a question. I asked what was the percent of urban compared to rural population in the USA. I had to pronounce the word "rural" twice, since I mispronounced it the first time.

He said he didn't know for sure, but would guess about 65% urban, 35% rural. I said I would have guessed about 60% urban, 40% rural.

The professor sat down in an easy chair in front of the class. I was sitting more to his left than directly in front of him.

The entire class now seemed interested and the pupils (most 17-18 years old) began raising their hands for questions.

One girl asked a question which I didn't understand. Bolata (a little girl about five years old who had once been a neighbor in Portsmouth) was sitting across the room from me. She asked a question which I couldn't hear. I placed my hand to my ear and asked her to repeat. She stood up and I noticed how white her little teeth were. She began walking toward me and loudly repeated the question. She seemed cute to me. I reached out and held her soft, little hand. Then I tugged her closer to me and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She immediately began crying and ran toward the professor, who likewise was taken in by her childish beauty and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She likewise recoiled from him and leaving the room said, "You stink."

I was uncertain to which of us she was referring, but I thought although my clothes were a little dirty, I had taken a bath and I didn't think I stank.