Anger Management Subway Ride

I got on the subway and was immediately hailed by an old occasional teacher I had worked with while I was an education assistant. I remember him well as he was quite loopy. The children kept looking at me as he tried to teach the lessons left by
their regualr teacher. I wound up teaching most of the lessons myself as he seemed to get frequently lost in thought. Some reverie, perhaps of himself floating on an innertube down the St. Lawrence River holding the secret of Atlantis, that interupted his teaching the concepts of integers. "So, boys and girls, if you have -2 multiplied by -3 the answer would be.........wow. Look at all the pop bottles". This is where I would step in. In any case, I entered the subway to this man yelling "HEY RICHARD. RICH. ITS ME DOUG." He was of course at the other end of the car. I sheepishly walked the length of the car to sit next to him. Doug only has one volume. Its intolerably loud. The formalities were quickly dealt with so he could leap into-----> "I'VE JUST COME FROM AN ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASS FOR OCCASIONAL TEACHERS." He said this smiling. Its eerie when someone smiles whilst saying 'anger management'. "I HAVE THIS REALLY FREAKY PARTNER. HE GAVE ME A NOTE AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT SAID? IT SAID 'IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND GOD IN THE REALM OF PLEASURE'." "Oh" I said. "YES. SO I SAID 'WHAT ABOUT S&M? THATS PAINFUL YET PLEASUARBLE. I IN FACT LIKED TO BE SPANKED ON OCCASION'. HE GOT REALLY ANGRY AT ME AND WROTE ME ANOTHER NOTE WHICH READ 'KEEP YOUR DISTANCE AND WATCH YOUR TONGUE YOU SERVANT OF LUCIFER'. NOW HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? HE'S MY PARTNER FOR THE REST OF THE SEMINAR TOO. OOPS, ITS MY STOP. GOOD TO SEE YOU RICH. MAYBE SEE YOU IN THE CLASSROOM AGAIN HUH." I had eight more stops to go before I reached my station. Eight stops of curious, frightened, scolding, smiling, you name it faces checking me out. Sizing me up and wondering "Is this guy a nut too?" "How do these people become teachers?" In Dougs case, he will never become a full time teacher. The board is so short on substitutes that people like Doug are kept on supply lists. I've worked with worse. I hope none of the people on the subway work for the board personnel office.