Gemotions

The announcement sat on the desk, a typed sheet of paper detailing Professor Davies' retirement. He reread it, savoring each syllable. He felt a peculiar lightness, as though he had cast off a heavy cloak.

He stood up and stretched, a wide, expansive gesture. The office, usually a cage, felt vast, open. He turned, surveying the stacks of books and papers, no longer burdened by them.

He knew what he would do. He grabbed his manuscript, the one he had been working on outside of Davies’s research, the one Davies had deemed uninteresting. A new chapter in his own career had just started.