Page 13 (2/2)
They hugged ain—Mom, then Dad—and it was over Out the back atched theooey, sentimental sadness, perhaps But rabbed one of the desk chairs and sat down outsidefor a breeze that never arrived The air outside sat as still and oppressive as the air inside I stared out over s, each with sixteen dore circle of grass It looked like an oversize old ed and suely hoped that soined the conversation:
“Hey Is this your first year?”
“Yeah Yeah I’m from Florida”
“That’s cool So you’re used to the heat”
“I wouldn’t be used to this heat if I were froood first iuy Miles is a riot
That didn’t happen, of course Things never happened like I iined them
Bored, I went back inside, took off my shirt, lay down on the heat-soaked vinyl of the lower bunk ain with the baptis and all that, but it couldn’t feel uy with no known past I thought of the people I’d read about—John F Kennedy, Ja school, and their adventures—Kennedy, for exaht of the Great Perhaps and the things that ht otten a letter a feeeks before that gave me his name, Chip Martin, but no other information) Whoever Chip Martin was, I hoped to God he would bring an arsenal of high-powered fans, because I hadn’t packed even one, and I could already feel usted ot off my ass to find a towel to wipe up the sith And then I thought, Well, before the adventure co
I et most of my clothes into drawers before I noticed that the hot, moist air made even the walls sweat, and I decided that noas not the tinificently cold shower
The sth mirror behind the door, and so I could not escape the reflection of my naked self as I leaned in to turn on the shower faucet My skinniness always surprised er as they moved from wrist to shoulder, my chest lacked any hint of either fat orcould be done about the mirror I pulled open the plain white shower curtain and ducked into the stall
Unfortunately, the shower seened for someone approximately three feet, seven inches tall, so the cold water hitfaucet To wet nificantly Surely, John F Kennedy (as six feet tall according to his biography,school No, this was a different beast entirely, and as the dribbling shower slowly soaked my body, I wondered whether I could find a Great Perhaps here at all or whether I had rand miscalculation
When I opened the bathroom door after my shower, a torapped around uy with a shock of brown hair He was hauling a gigantic arh the door of , but ell-built, like a scale arette s my roommate naked He heaved the duffel into the room, closed the door, and walked over to me
“I’m Chip Martin,” he announced in a deep voice, the voice of a radio deejay Before I could respond, he added, “I’d shake your hand, but I think you should hold on daet some clothes on”
I laughed and nodded ht? the nod?) and said, “I’m Miles Halter Nice to meet you”
“Miles, as in ‘to go before I sleep’?” he asked me
“Huh?”
“It’s a Robert Frost poem You’ve never read him?”
I shook my head no
“Consider yourself lucky” He smiled
I grabbed some clean underwear, a pair of blue Adidas soccer shorts, and a white T-shirt, mumbled that I’d be back in a second, and ducked back into the bathrooood first impression
“So where are your parents?” I asked from the bathroom
“My parents? The father’s in California right now Maybe sitting in his La-Z-Boy Maybe driving his truck Either way, he’s drinking Myoff campus”
“Oh,” I said, dressed now, not sure how to respond to such personal inforuess, if I didn’t want to know
Chip grabbed some sheets and tossed them onto the top bunk “I’m a top bunk man Hope that doesn’t bother you”
“Uh, no Whatever is fine”
“I see you’ve decorated the place,” he said, gesturing toward the world map “I like it”
And then he started na countries He spoke in a monotone, as if he’d done it a thousand times before
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
And so on He got through the A’s before looking up and noticing my incredulous stare
“I could do the rest, but it’d probably bore you Soine how boring New Hope, Alabarow Where are you from, by the way?”
“Florida,” I said
“Never been”
“That’s pretty a,” I said