"Teacher’s Pest" is a story by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

 set in his Ender's Game universe

Ender's Game series

The Ender's Game series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of eleven novels and ten short stories...

. It tells the story of how John Paul Wiggin (Ender's father) meets and falls in love with his future wife. It first appeared in Card's short story collection First Meetings in Ender's Universe

First Meetings

First Meetings is a collection of Orson Scott Card's short stories from the Ender's Game series. The 2003 edition published by Tor Books also includes the story "Teacher's Pest", about the first meeting of Ender's parents.- Story list :The stories in this book are:*...

.

Plot summary

While going to college, John Paul

John Paul Wiggin

John Paul Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's Ender's game series. He appeared in the original novel Ender's Game, and in several of its sequels: Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Ender in Exile. John Paul is a central character in two of the prequel short stories:...

 is assigned to take a Human Communities class being taught by Theresa

Theresa Wiggin

Theresa Wiggin is a fictional character from the Ender's Game series of novels by Orson Scott Card.She is the mother of Peter, Valentine and Ender Wiggin, and the wife of John Paul Wiggin....

. Unfortunately, she has just been told that her research project is being taken away from her in an effort to get her father Admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 Brown to come out of retirement

Retirement

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...

. As a result, she doesn't want to speak to anyone. Determined, John Paul waits outside her office and orders food for her while she talks to her father on the phone. When she finally comes out, he is still waiting for her. She decides to eat with him, and during the meal John Paul tells her about his secret past. As they continue to talk, they both begin to fall in love.

Characters

• John Paul Wiggin
• Classmates - unnamed
• Theresa Brown - student teacher
• Admiral Hinckley Brown - Theresa's father
• Theresa's dissertation committee - unnamed
• Dr. Howell - professor
• The dean - unnamed

External links

• About the story "Teacher's Pest" - from Card's website