A sentence from a book — "way before I had him"

[aytug2001]

"He had a sick kid. We all knew this, so when he laughed at his own jokes, which were rusty way before I had him, we laughed too, forcing it sometimes just to make him happy."

This is from a book (Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones). The part I couldn't make any sense:


way before I had him


For those who don't know the book, this is written from a murdered girl's point of view.

She is talking about her teacher. I have no idea what she means by that. (way before I had him)

I know way before is like long before. The only thing I can't figure out is the meaning of "have" here I guess. Does she mean that his jokes had always been rusty (old) when she was with him?

 

[teechar]

This is from a book (Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones).

In future, please include a link to the source.

"I had him" here means I had him as a teacher (he was a teacher of mine).

Also, please correct the info on your profile page.

 

[aytug2001]

That's what I thought! Thank you and sorry, what info?

 

[teechar]

Are you in Turkey?

 

[aytug2001]

Oh, yeah I am. I use a vpn

 

[Rover_KE]

Oh, yes, [STRIKE][/STRIKE] I am. I use a VPN. [STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Please don't use home-made emoticons to replace standard punctuation marks.