Learning the Hard Way Read Online Free PDF Page B

thought about feigning surprise, but Dr. Wunderlund had always been a straight shooter with her. She owed him the professional courtesy to return that same level of candor.
    “Yes, I have heard that. You’ve had a wonderful career, Dr. Wunderlund. You’ve shaped some of our most talented students at East Coast.” To not make the man seem old, she would leave out the fact that she’d learned from him during her undergraduate years.
    Dr. Wunderlund waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “Don’t eulogize me just yet. I’m sure the pompous assholes here will do enough of that during my retirement party.”
    Ava had to blink at his use of the term “assholes” to describe the dean and board members.
    “I like you, Ava.” He pulled out a silver flask from his pants pocket. “Drink?”
    She shook her head in both disagreement and surprise. “No, thank you. And you shouldn’t be imbibing that here on campus either.”
    Her colleague took two substantial swigs before glaring at her and replacing the drink container back in its original resting place. “It’s the only way I can get through the day now. Trust me. You’ll do this and more to stay centered.”
    Out of respect, she lowered her voice in case someone walked by her office. “I don’t think drinking an alcoholic beverage on school grounds can be excused simply because of a taxing day.”
    “Then you’ll take up your drug of choice to cope. If it’s not drinking, it’ll be something else. Maybe it’ll be crossword puzzles. Besides, what I know about these people around here, they’re not going to get rid of me before my official retirement date.”
    She glanced at the place where he tucked his flask. “So you want something on me before you go?”
    Dr. Wunderlund cocked his head. “Please. Setting people up is not my style. Jump down from your high horse, Dr. Kushnell. I didn’t come here to discuss my behavior. I came here because in you, I see great potential. I think you would be perfect to take over my spot.”
    Despite losing a bit of respect for him when she saw him drinking in front of her, Ava beamed at his assessment.
    “However,” Dr. Wunderlund held up his index finger, “there is one thing. As a department head, you are expected to participate in as many school functions as possible.”
    “That shouldn’t be a problem. I’m the sponsor of the university’s wine-and-cheese parties.”
    “You mean the one that’s held on campus during school hours?” With a self-satisfied grin on his smug face, he patted his drinking vessel still hidden in his pocket.
    “It’s held across the street in the campus’s meeting center and they’re done as late as possible. It’s not my fault that the school schedules evening classes that get out at—”
    “Before I leave here, you’re going to learn one thing, Dr. Kushnell.” He shifted himself in his seat. “Nothing is black and white. As an ethics professor, you should know that.”
    “But as an ethics professor , I need to teach my students right and wrong.” The responsibility didn’t make her feel haughty. She liked teaching.
    That statement got the large man to bolt from his chair. He loomed over her desk. “No. Ethics is not about right and wrong. Ethics is about good choices and bad ones based on a set of constructs in an environment. Here’s an ethics question. You come across two houses burning. You know in the one house is a group of small children. In the other, is an elderly woman. You have enough time to go into one dwelling to make a save. Where do you go?”
    “The children’s parents should be in that house with them, so they would save their own children and I would save the elderly woman.” Her heart started to beat hard after he posed his scenario. Her hands became sweaty.
    Dr. Wunderlund shook his head. “Both parents work third shift. The oldest child is sixteen so they rely on him to watch his younger brother and sisters. So what do you do?”
    Now her head