A year after graduation,I was offered a position teaching a writing class.Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered,though several of my stories had been published.I accepted the job without hesitation,as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr.Davis.My father went by the same name,and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused.“Wait a minute,”someone might say,“are you talking about Mr.Davis the retired man,or Mr.Davis the respectable scholar?”