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"Not running," Dashay said "You are going to school Retreating,with that" She passed froid

I took the bowl "What about the University of Virginia?" It was my father’s alma mater

My mother said, "It’s too far away"

Dashay said, "Sara, you are a fool" But she said it with affection in her voice

"Where did you go to college?" I asked my mother

"I went to Hillhouse It’s a liberal arts school in Georgia"

"Were you happy there?"

She smiled "Yes, I was It’s only five hundred students or so But it’s an alternative school They don’t assign grades--they give written assessh for someone like you"

"Do you mean I’m smarter than you?" The words cahed Dashay said, "Ari, you watch out That’s your ize, but Mãe said, "It’s okay It’s a legitimate question Yes, I think you are e"

"Thank you," I said, trying to keep my voice modest

She added, "And nearly half as smart as I am now"

While es, I decided to do soh in the areas of science, art, and writing, and low in sales, clerical, and adative and artistic thinking wereattentive or conventional

"You should major in liberal arts," Dashay said She said she’d done that at the University of the West Indies

"I think that Raphael wants Ari to go into ood foundation for anything," Mãe said

My father had never told ht here," I said "Why do you keep talking about" Mãe kneas apprehensive and didn’t want to s worse "You can choose one school now, have a trial year, then transfer later on You have all the tis out"

All the time in the world Even for va problem is, she hasn’t learned how to tell tiht didn’t want to end Later I sat on a bench on our new deck, trying out the newup at stars seen by Plato and Aristotle Tiazed

Orion’s belt jumped out at me: three white-blue stars, each more than twenty tio And along the sword that hangs from the belt was the reddish swirl called the Orion nebula, a cloud of dust, gas, and plasma Nebulae are where stars are born

I sensed someone behind me and my body tensed, then relaxed when I smelled rosemary Dashay used rose fun out here in the dark?" she said She wore an embroidered caftan, and her head rapped in a towel

I pulled away from the eyepiece "Want to have a look?’

She shook her head "What’s up there doesn’t interest h for me to think about"

"But it’s so beautiful" Even without the telescope, the night sky pulled my eyes to it The patterns of stars, planets, and haze were embedded stories "Do you know the story of Orion?"

"I’ve heard the Greek story" Dashay tilted her head and stared up "The hunter killed by his lover"

"By accident," I said "Arte Orion with an arrow"

"Yes, yes" Dashay looked at me "What’s the point of that story, Ari?"

"The point?" I didn’t know the answer

"What’s the moral of the story?"

I didn’t think constellation stories had morals "The point is: love is es was short and to the point Mãe and I decided to visit four: two large state universities and two smaller private ones, all within three hundred miles of ho to name the other places ent; I don’t want to influence anyone else’s opinions of thee state schools did not appeal to ly, despite elaborate landscaping that seens of the buildings We’d been pros with faculty members, but none was available At each school we took a tour of the facilities, which included stops at doruides at both places were young women--pretty, blond, unflappable women whose cheerfulness knew no bounds

"Here’s the quiet dor at State U-A, down a corridor, and into the, led us out again