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Between these carnal escapades--Carmen and I would often race back to her room between classes for an hour of furious copulation--and my voluminous classwork and, of course,myself for our next encounter--I saw less and less of Lucessi He’d always kept odd hours, studying through the night and living on naps, but as the ses becaht not see him for several days in a row By this tilesworth to include a number of Carmen’s friends, all of them far more cosmopolitan than I was Lucessi obviously resented this, but any effort to pull hiiene took another dip; our rooht back from the cafeteria and never re on his bed, barely dressed, estures, as if involved in earnest conversation with some unseen party At bedtime--whenever he decided that was, even if it was the middle of the day--he would smear his face with a layer of acne creaan to sleep with a scuba diver’s knife in a rubber sheath strapped to his leg (This should have disturbed me more than it did)

I worried about him, but not verycircle of friends, I had always assuether At the end of the year, all freshmen entered a lottery to determine which of the Harvard houses they would live in for the next three years This was regarded as a rite of passage as socially determinant as whom one married, and it possessed two aspects The first hich house one sought to live in There were twelve, each with its own reputation: the preppy house, the artsy house, the jock house, and so forth Thethe Charles River--extreraduate tuition The least were the ones in the old Radcliffe Quad, far up Garden Street To be "quadded" was tantamount to exile, one’s life forever chained to a schedule of shuttle buses that, inconveniently, stopped running long before the party had ended

The second aspect was, of course, ould room hom This made for an uncoiances and prioritized their friendships Rejecting one’s freshman roommate in favor of other parties was co this very conversation with Lucessi, then found that I didn’t have the heart Who else would be willing to room with him? Who else would tolerate his quirks, his doleful personality, his unhealthful aromas? On top of which, come to think of it, nobody else had asked me Lucessi, it seeht hiht go in for Winthrop House, or else Lowell Quincy, maybe, as a backup They were river houses but without the distinct social slant of some of the others This conversation occurred in theday that Lucessi had apparently slept through He was sitting at his desk, wearing only briefs and an undershirt, fussing with a calculator as I spoke, punching in its with the eraser end of a pencil A white crust of dried toothpaste ringed his ed "I already entered"

His wordsabout?"

"I asked for a single in the quad"

Psycho singles, they were called Housing for the maladjusted; rooms for people who couldn’t handle roommates

"It’s pretty nice up there, actually," Lucessi went on "Quieter You know Anyway, it’s done"

I was dumbfounded "Lucessi, what the hell? The lottery’s next week I thought ere going to go together"

"I just kind of assuht you’d be happy"

"You’re supposed to be my friend" I strode furiously around the roo this Look at this place Look at you Who else do you have? And you’re doing this to me?"

These awful, unrecallable words: Lucessi’s face crumpled like a wad of paper

"Christ, I’m sorry I didn’t ht I really a I haven’t heard before"