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"Do you see a panther on top of the television?" asked Kay Arht the tail of her led "Can't see a thing"

"A panther?" asked Natalie soleht s," said their father resolutely "The Ar on the television at all"

The green panther had stayed there for a month One afternoon Natalie, in her room, had heard a crash When she went downstairs, herthe had said cal is invisible you are very apt to burinned, helping her with the last green bits

Now they were all playing the gaain If they pretended the paper didn't exist, it wouldn't exist

But it does, Natalie thought I had to write it I had to ask them to read it

And they will have to talk to me about it Even if it hurts

2

MACKENZIE COLLEGE'S APPLICATION blank had not been very different from any of the others After the routine questions about Natalie's high school grades and activities, and after all the information about SATs, CEEBS, BOGs, and PCSs that soe application procedure seelued to the bottoone, they had the question for which they had left an entire page of blank space

Most colleges did It was usually a question about thethat had happened to the applicant in the past few years It was a question that panicked Branford, Maine, high school seniors and their guidance counselor, because nothing very exciting happened in Branford, Maine

They all were very, very sure that the rest of the country was filled with high school seniors who had spent their su in leper colonies

One sus had menaced the town of Branford before they were lured into a fenced area and shot by mes traveling together; one of them, it was later found in the state laboratory, did have rabies They had killed numerous chickens and one small calf in a pasture before they were destroyed It had been a frightening two days; the townspeople arned, by radio and TV and by police vehicles with loudspeakers, not to venture far from their houses Ser was over Branford high school boys had volunteered to help in tracking the dogs; in Maine,hunting season But the state police had refused the offer Soone out on their own anyway, and one of them had shot the Episcopal minister's Saint Bernard by mistake Of the five boys involved, none would tell which one had done it; they were all ordered hoht Father Si, a new puppy, which he named Expiation and called Pete for short

The incident nourished Mr Flanagan, the high school guidance counselor, for two years When seniors asked his advice on answering the big question of their applications, his eyes lit up "Tell about the ti pack," he would say

After a while, no one re four dogs in a fenced yard Most of the kids found the about the French Club's weekend trip to Quebec Some preferred to tell of the time that the shack in which the local derelict lived, on the outskirts of town, burned to the ground with him in it; the Athletic Club had sponsored a quick raffle to raise h school turned out for the funeral Most of the boys, at one time or another, had paid Willie, the derelict, a quarter to buy them a six-pack of beer They didn't include that infore applications, but they liked to write about how the Branford Glee Club had spontaneously sung, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" as as left of Willie was laid to rest

MacKenzie's application had worded the big question a little differently fro about you that h school seniors ill apply, this year, for admission to MacKenzie's freshman class? Hoill that one quality affect your life in the next four years?"

Natalie had looked at the question for a long tial pad from her desk, uncapped her fountain pen, and written,

The one thing that makes me different is that I have no idea who I really a I was named for my mother's mother, Natalie Chandler, who is a famous sculptor She was married to a painter who died before I was born, and they traveled all over the world They were both very well known My mother, as their only child, is not a famous person, but she is artistic, like her parents, and tells fascinating stories about growing up with such an unusual fa, is a very dedicated doctor He graduated from Harvard Medical School and worked for a while at the Lahey Clinic in Boston before he decided to come to Maine For a while he was the only medical doctor in our s of our local hospital is nao, people who had been ot together and raised the money to help pay for it and to name it in his honor It er sister, Nancy, looks exactly like my father, but she has my mother's personality It's a nice combination

But my parents adopted me when I was five days old Of course I have developed characteristics that are like theirs, because they have been e is a complete mystery to me Somewhere there are two people who created me, and I don't knoho they are I have dark brown hair, and light blue eyes Genetically, that's an unusual combination Where does it coht, wondering what the story is behind ive ry, puzzled, and sad Somewhere, I think, it must make theotten me

I am sure that this will affect me not only for the next four years, but for my entire life, at least until I find the answers

I intend to work very hard at college, because I want to be a doctor like oing to try to find my natural parents I don't kno But I am sure there must be a way

The essay, written in Natalie's s, covered the entire sheet of extra-length paper After she had written it, she set it aside

On a second sheet, she began again