I signed up for a course in drawing with Irau. He was the only person I knew from waking life in the first three or four lessons. We would go there on our bikes, leave them outside locked, and then get in this bare room with just a few chairs where the teacher would do drawings and drawings showing us how he did things.
Irau and I usually went to see friends at the end of the class, some times on our own and some times with people from class. It was always very relaxed, biking slowly and pleasantly. The only drawback was that the lessons finished at dark and it felt like night time when we got out, always biking in the dark. But we were used to it and it was never an issue, and we just enjoyed going back to our friends after class.
Then in one of the lessons we went out to the patio and did some drawings ourselves.
Then I went away for two weeks and I thought the lessons had finished, but when I came back I enrolled in a different course and it was with the same teacher, and it felt like it was just the continuation of the previous course and that I had missed two weeks worth of lessons. This was never clarified to me.
This time I could recognise a few people from waking life. Mesk was there, also using a bike, and Mr. Ratpram too, looking much younger than I have ever known him, almost a teenager.
One day after class Irau, Mesk, one other person from class that could have been Mr. Ratpram and I went for a bike ride to see some friends. It was just the three of us. As usual the lesson finished when it was already dark, so I put on my bike lights, and so did Irau. Putting my bike lights took time and Mesk got impatient, partly because this time it was her leading the way to her friends.
At one point she just shot off with her bike and I didn’t want her to go off on her own. She did not have any lights. I had lights and I high visibility vest. I told Irau and the others that I would try and be between her and them, so that we would all be still together even if Mesk was faster. They agreed and I followed Mesk. This meant to make an effort to keep up with her speed, but it was also enjoyable. She would never indicate where she was turning, and guessing her moves in order to indicate myself, for the benefit of Irau first, and the rest of the traffic later, was also a pleasure. Some times I got it wrong but most of the times I could predict when and where she was turning by observing the movements of her head and her bike.
When we arrived to the house we were visiting, Mesk said: “Your bike makes noises”. I agreed, and jumped a bit on my saddle to reproduce the noise my bike was making. “Why is that?” “Because I overcharged it yesterday. I was assured the load I was to carry was very small, but obviously it was too heavy.”
The next day we were in class again. It was a bare room, with a bed in it. There were some chairs too, and a table. Mr. Ratpram was sitting on a chair opposite me. The teacher was sitting on a chair too, next to the bed where Irau and I were sitting. Two guys were sitting on chairs next to the only table in the room, there were a couple of people sitting on chairs too, and the rest of the class just sat on the floor, with their backs leaned against the walls.
The teacher was making an important point about life in general, as part of the class. Then he put an example about making personal decisions, just as an aside to his main point. Mr. Ratpram had a question about this making decisions issue. The teacher said it was just an example and he didn’t want to wander away from the issues the lessons needed to be about. Mr. Ratpram asked his question anyway, in a long elaborate way. The teacher thought Mr. Ratpram had not listened to him and he decided to do the same, continuing with the lesson ignoring Mr. Ratpram. So for a painfully long time they both talked at the same time not listening to each other. The guys at the table moved their heads and closing their eyes, as if saying “this really should not be happening”. I saw some people with that same body language, and I felt the same way too, but didn’t know how it could have been different without letting Mr. Ratpram imposing his agenda on the rest of the class.
This is what the teacher decided to do because he was more civilised than Mr. Ratpram. He got off his chair and sat next to other pupils who were sitting on the floor against the wall, so he looked like any other pupil while Mr. Ratpram comfortably asked his question.
I felt out of place now because, sitting on the bed as I was, I was in a higher position than the teacher, who sat on the floor, but there was not much space on the floor to sit on so I remained where I was with Irau.