"Nice to see you back mate"
"Why thank you" (Genuinely touched)
"It must have been stressful for you"
"It was a bit of a shock"
"We all thought it was wrong you know"
"Really?" (Genuinely surprised)
"Oh yes the whole department was behind you, you know"
"Really?" (Genuinely suspicious)
"Yes to a man...oh and the women, you know what I mean" (starting to look for an escape rout e of the 'damn I wish I hadn't entered this cage and just tried to stroke the nice lion that appears to have a firm grasp of my leg in his jaws' type way)
"I think so - what was said then"? (Really suspicious now)
"Well you know......lot's of people supported you"
"That's nice" (big smile)
"Yes we were very supportive" (Look of relief - the jaws appear to be opening - I'll escape in a second)
"Who"? (dinner time)
"Sorry"? (Gulp)
"Who, who exactly was supportive" (Yum)
"Well, er, you know, all, well er, most of us were you know" (Oh poo)
"Who exactly"? (Shouldn't play with my food really - what the hell mums not here)
"Well everyone really I suppose. Ok not everyone said anything but you could tell" (Help)
"How could I tell Brian"?
"Not you of course, we could tell"
"Oh so how precisely was I supported"?
"Well you know, people saying things like"
"I'm not sure I do, what did they say and to whom?
"Oh to each other, we all said how awful it was"
"That's a lot of support Brian"
"...."
"My postman must have been on strike, I must have been out when the phone rang and well my email..."
"Er... we didn't want to disturb you whilst you were off"
"In case I was infectious"?
"Yes! No! No not at all"
"Brian in what way exactly did you support me"?
"Your students wrote a letter to the VC you know"
"So I've heard"
"They said that you were the best lecturer they had, that's supportive"
"The students have a lot of good qualities like moral courage. Quite a few of them came to see me at home. What did the staff do to support me"?
"Did they??? They visited you? That's champion. You must have felt very supported"
"By the students, yes"
"Er yes, look plato mate, I've got to dash, got a lunchtime meeting and I'm bit late, glad to see you are back mate"