63

Your blow lands satisfyingly hard, and the aggressor reels backward into the surging mass. You can't see whether you've knocked him out or not, but you've sure given him something to think about.

Your action enrages the crowd even further, and the closest police officer starts yelling at you threateningly. Then Cleo's hands grip you firmly and steer you on toward the entrance. "Don't give them an excuse!" she shouts over the bellowing of the crowd. "Just keep walking."

With Cleo firmly and emphatically keeping you on the path, you pass through the rest of the crowd without incident, mount the steps, and enter the relative tranquility of the lecture hall.

NextSam comes over to meet you as you escort Cleo inside. "Quite a reception committee out there," they say, taking Cleo's box of slides from her. They're on projector duty tonight.

While Sam and Cleo set up, you cast your eyes around the rows of steeply rising benches above the speaker's podium.

Some of your colleagues anticipated trouble tonight and were thinking of staying away; you even heard of a few who support segregation and opposed this event on principle. You were worried that Cleo would be speaking to a somewhat reduced audience, and it does look a little down on usual.

Many of your colleagues who trust your judgment decided Cleo would be worth hearing. Still, if you had a slightly stronger academic reputation, maybe there would be fewer empty seats.

It's the absentees who are missing out tonight. Cleo's lecture is excellent. You've read a fair amount about the archaeology of Central Africa, but even so, you learn much that is new. Cleo's team at Xavier have spent the past few summers excavating an abandoned trading post on the Kasai River in Eastern Kinlaza territory in the old Kingdom of Kongo, an outpost which reached its peak in the sixteenth century and was abandoned soon after. She efficiently and clearly outlines what her team has found so far and expertly situates the site in the networks of Central African trade, patronage, and military power.

As she speaks, you can't help but notice she has looks and a demeanor many people would find attractive. Dressed in a businesslike charcoal gray skirt, a plain white blouse, and a rather severe jacket, Cleo is a statuesque woman who moves with grace and purpose and holds herself with confidence and dignity. Her hair is long and natural, a shimmering black halo of curls surrounding her well-defined face. Her medium brown eyes glimmer under the harsh lecture hall lights. A silver stud punctures her nose, the one indication of an unconventional nature that is allowed to show under her veneer of polished professionalism. You can easily imagine that many of her students develop crushes.

The questions at the end are productive and engaged. You linger for a while, making smalltalk with Sam and your colleagues and other doctoral students, and then the time comes to leave.

It is conventional after a guest lecture that the organizer takes the speaker out for dinner.