'Sir?' I asked, not quite sure whether he was making a statement or asking a question.
'I think the Peace Corps is a fine thing, don't you?' he said.
'Well,' I replied, 'it's certainly better than the War Corps.'
We were even. I didn't know what he meant and vice versa. Was that it for the topic? Would we now discuss other current affairs or government programs? No. I had momentarily forgotten that our quintessential theme is always my plans.
'I would certainly have no objection to your joining the Peace Corps, Oliver.'
'It's mutual, sir,' I replied, matching his own generosity of spirit. I'm sure Old Stony never listens to me anyway, so I'm not surprised that he didn't react to my quiet little sarcasm.
'But among your classmates,' he continued, 'what is the attitude there?'
'Sir?'
'Do they feel the Peace Corps is relevant to their lives?'
I guess my father needs to hear the phrase as much as a fish needs water: 'Yes, sir.'
Even the apple pie was stale.
At about eleven-thirty, I walked him to his car.
'Anything I can do, son?'
'No, sir. Good night, sir.'
And he drove off.
Yes, there are planes between Boston and Ithaca, New York, but Oliver Barrett III chose to drive.
Not that those many hours at the wheel could be taken as some kind of parental gesture. My father simply likes to drive. Fast. And at that hour of the night in an Aston Martin DBS you can go fast as hell. I have no doubt that Oliver Barrett III was out to break his Ithaca-Boston speed record, set the year previous after we had beaten Cornell and taken the title. I know, because I saw him glance at his watch.
I went back to the motel to phone Jenny.
It was the only good part of the evening. I told her all about the fight (omitting the precise nature of the casus belli) and I could tell she enjoyed it. Not many of her wonky musician friends either threw or received punches.
'Did you at least total the guy that hit you?' she asked.
'Yeah. Totally. I creamed him.'
'I wish I coulda seen it. Maybe you'll beat up somebody in the Yale game, huh?'
'Yeah.'
I smiled. How she loved the simple things in life.
4
'Jenny's on the downstairs phone.'
This information was announced to me by the girl on bells, although I had not identified myself or my purpose in coming to Briggs Hall that Monday evening. I quickly concluded that this meant points for me. Obviously the 'Cliffie who greeted me read the Crimson and knew who I was. Okay, that had happened many times. More significant was the fact that Jenny had been mentioning that she was dating me.
'Thanks,' I said. 'I'll wait here.'
'Too bad about Cornell. The Crime says four guys jumped you.'
'Yeah. And I got the penalty. Five minutes.'
'Yeah.'
The difference between a friend and a fan is that with the latter you quickly run out of conversation.
'Jenny off the phone yet? '
She checked her switchboard, replied, 'No.'
Who could Jenny be talking to that was worth appropriating moments set aside for a date with me? Some musical wonk? It was not unknown to me that Martin Davidson, Adams House senior and conductor of the Bach Society orchestra, considered himself to have a franchise on Jenny's attention. Not body; I don't think the guy could wave more than his baton. Anyway, I would put a stop to this usurpation of my time.
'Where's the phone booth?'
'Around the corner.' She pointed in the precise direction.
I ambled into the lounge area. From afar I could see Jenny on the phone. She had left the booth door open. I walked slowly, casually, hoping she would catch sight of me, my bandages, my injuries in toto, and be moved to slam down the receiver and rush to my arms. As I approached, I could hear fragments of conversation.
'Yeah. Of course! Absolutely. Oh, me too, Phil. I love you too, Phil.'
I stopped ambling. Who was she talking to? It wasn't Davidson — there was no Phil in any part of his name. I had long ago checked him out in our Class Register: Martin Eugene Davidson, 70 Riverside Drive, New York, High School of Music and Art. His photo suggested sensitivity, intelligence and about fifty pounds less than me. But why was I bothering about Davidson? Clearly both he and I were being shot down by Jennifer Cavilleri, for someone to whom she was at this moment (how gross!) blowing kisses into the phone!
I had been away only forty-eight hours, and some bastard named Phil had crawled into bed with Jenny (it had to be that!).
'Yeah, Phil, I love you too. 'Bye.'
As she was hanging up, she saw me, and without so much as blushing, she smiled and waved me a kiss. How could she be so two-faced?
She kissed me lightly on my unhurt cheek.
'Hey — you look awful.'
'I'm injured, Jen.'
'Does the other guy look worse?'
'Yeah. Much. I always make the other guy look worse.'
I said that as ominously as I could, sort of implying that I would punch-out any rivals who would creep into bed with Jenny while I was out of sight and evidently out of mind. She grabbed my sleeve and we started toward the door.
'Night, Jenny,' called the girl on bells.
'Night, Sara Jane,' Jenny called back.
When we were outside, about to step into my MG, I oxygenated my lungs with a breath of evening, and put the question as casually as I could.
'Say, Jen … '
'Yeah?'
'Uh — who's Phil?'
She answered matter-of-factly as she got into the car: 'My father.'
I wasn't about to believe a story like that.
'You call your father Phil?'
'That's his name. What do you call yours?'
Jenny had once told me she had been raised by her father, some sort of a baker type, in Cranston, Rhode Island. When she was very young, her mother was killed in a car crash. All this by way of explaining why she had no driver's license. Her father, in every other way 'a truly good guy' (her words), was incredibly superstitious about letting his only daughter drive. This was a real drag during her last years of high school, when she was taking piano with a guy in Providence. But then she got to read all of Proust on those long bus rides.
'What do you call yours?' she asked again.
I had been so out of it, I hadn't heard her question.
'My what?'
'What term do you employ when you speak of your progenitor?'
I answered with the term I'd always wanted to employ.
