I am on my way to teach a graduate class.  It is the first day of class, and I don't know exactly where the classroom is, though I do know the building.  On the way there I encounter Gracie Berry, who is going to be in the class.  I am a little embarrassed to have someone I know in the class, particularly a seasoned veteran like Gracie, because whatever the topic of the class is, I know very little about it, and I am not prepared for the first day.  I don't even have a syllabus.  We are also running a little late, so we start running.  Eventually we come to some kind of deep pit on campus-possibly even inside a building..  My textbooks fall over the side and land on a ledge several feet below.  When I try to climb down to get them, I can't reach them, and I end up hanging on to the edge, unable to go down or to pull myself up.  I am already probably 15 minutes late for class, and still don't know what I am going to teach.  Somehow I get rescued-from the pit, not from the class-and find the classroom, a small, narrow, claustrophobic room with no windows.  Robinette Schwarzeneggle is there.