returned his attention to me once more.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Skeeve. I just managed to recall the
individual you’re looking for. Refusing to shake hands with
apprentices was the tipoff. It was one of his least objection-
able quirks. Aahzmandius! After all these years I can still
remember him.”
After searching so long I was reluctant to believe my luck.
“Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?
Aahz?”
“Oh my, yes. That’s why the name rang a bell. Aahz
MYTH-NOMERS AND IM-PERVECTIONS 167
was the nickname Aahzmandius would use when he was
exercising his dubious love of practical jokes … or doing
anything else he didn’t want reflected on his permanent
record, for that matter. There was a time when that name
would strike terror into the hearts of any under-classman on
campus.”
“I take it he wasn’t a particularly good student?” I said,
trying to hide my grin.
“Oh, on the contrary, he was one of the brightest students
we’ve ever had here. That’s much of why the faculty and
administration were willing to overlook the . . . um, less
social aspects of his character. He was at the head of his
class while he was here, and everyone assumed a bright
future for him. I’m not sure he was aware of it, but long
before he was slated to graduate, there was a raging debate
going on about him among the faculty. One side felt that
every effort should be made to secure him a position with
the institute as an instructor after he graduated. The other
felt that with his arrogant distaste for inferiors, placing him
in constant contact with students would . . . well, let’s just