“So, do you think I should approach him somehow and tell him about it?” asked Eve.
“Huh?” asked Pete, trying to concentrate on eating his lunch.
Eve was a great friend – solidly loyal and one of the most bizarrely interesting people Pete had ever met. But
she got onto these weird, one-track obsessions about the strangest things all the time. Her mythical imaginary
friend Tim... the legendary Paul Hodgson, whom she'd never even met... and now this weird doubletalk about
Mister Sherman looking just like the grown-up version of some fictitious being.
“Should I tell Mister Sherman about Tim and Paul Hodgson and...”
“Sure, sure!” answered Pete casually. “Couldn't hurt. He used to teach across town at a different school. My
cousin had him a few years back and told me a little about him. He's a nice guy, real nerdy. A regular weirdo,
from what I hear tell – you'd probably like him.”
“The world could use a few more 'weirdos' in my opinion,” said Eve. “Why should everyone march to the beat of
the same drum anyhow? Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, 'You are trying to make another you. One's enough.' People
should be free to be as weird as they like, Pete.”
“Yeah, yeah,” laughed Pete. “Sorry, Eve. You know I didn't mean anything personal by that. But sure, you could
probably mention all this stuff to Mister Sherman. Worst case scenario, he'll probably just laugh and think
you're kinda funny. And maybe he'll actually have something useful to tell you.”
“I think I'll go see him at the end of the day,” said Eve. “Thanks, Pete. I appreciate your advice, even if
you're not as interesting a 'weirdo' as someone like me.”
“Ha, ha!” said Pete sarcastically. “But say, now that you mention it Eve, there might be somebody else you
want to talk to about all this, too. I hadn't really given it much thought before now, but maybe you should
also go and see...”