"And the papers will still be there in the morning to be graded," he said. Her announcement and the excitement in her voice was enough to make him forget entirely about being nervous. "Really? I've never seen one live before."
He had seen Halley's comet on TV when he was nine years old. It hadn't made much of an impression at the time, since that was one of the toughest years of his childhood. But he'd always been sorry he missed it. It wouldn't come round again until he was in his 80s.