It was a small, residential college, where we all lived in the same two or three dormitories. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same dining hall, and took classes in the same three or four classroom buildings. We all knew each other more or less, and so, as I used to say, there was no need for fraternities or secret societies.

A room in the basement of the administration building served as a student center where students could sit with coffee and a doughnut and have conversations with their professors. Dan King photo

A basement room in the rear of the main administration building served as a commons room, or student center, which served as an all-day snack shop open early morning to late afternoon, and as a bookstore at the beginning of each semester, with coffee, doughnuts, textbooks and the things that college students need, such as cigarettes, chewing gum, Alka Seltzer, aspirin, and Pepto Bismol.

It was this room that lay at the heart of my education.

Several round tables with wooden armchairs made it possible for a student to sit there with coffee and a doughnut and for the professors to drop by for the same and a chat with you between classes. Intimate and friendly, it was a chance for student and teacher to get to know each other informally.

I had noticed that when I put sugar into my cup of hot coffee and stirred it with a metal spoon, the clinking noise would progressively go from a higher to a lower tone as the sugar dissolved, and so I made a point of asking each teacher, why that was.

Physics professor said it was either a reflection of the curvature of the space-time continuum, or perhaps due to the interference of gravity waves with the natural harmonics of the coffee cup, but if I brought it over to the science building, he had some carefully calibrated …

English professor said he didn’t think Henry the Eighth had coffee cups …

Russian professor said, Eeen Rasseeyah, vee haff BEEEG COFFEE CUP …

Messieur Le Professeur simplement exclaimed, “Et pourquoi pas … ?”

Professor of mathematics asked, “How many cups have you got there … ?

Philosophy professor said Locke and Hume had never considered coffee cups …

Sociology professor asked if we had enough folks to make a valid decision …

Several years after graduating, I learned that there really had been a secret society at the college, but I hadn’t known about it because it was secret. Evidently some folks really need a secret society, whether they think so or not. It makes them feel good. I think it has something to do with black holes. Well, why not?

Orrin Frink is a Kennebunkport resident. He can be reached at ofrink@gmail.com.