Back home
I got took a wrong turn somewhere near Wooster, but I still made it home in time to get Peter to the play he wanted to see. Peter's a cool freshman from Gund. He lives in Webster and was homeschooled. I told him I named my car Ulysses (after the general and Odysseus), and he told me he had named his computer Hector. "But only because I liked the name. I don't know anything about the story. Do you?"
"Do I!" I said, so for about half an hour I retold The Iliad. Peter seemed caught up in it.
I also had James in my car, for he is after all only 19.33 miles from my house. I met his mother and his younger sister Maggie. It soon became apparent that they had no idea he was dating me, so I asked him when I got a moment alone if he had told them we were dating (since September). "I think so," he said. "Well, maybe not. I haven't talked to them much." I told him I wouldn't kiss him again until he told them. When he did, his Mom said she'd figured as much. When James took me to my car and gave me one final kiss, I looked up and saw a fleeing shadow at their window. I think it was his sister.
When I come home, there's always a process that my Mom has to go through. She always tells me she meant to make my bed, but didn't get around to it, then she looks me up and down and says I look like I've lost a lot of weight. I always indignantly deny it, then I have to run to the scale to see if it's true. I weigh 156 lbs., but I can't remember what I weighed before, so maybe I did lose some. Then she tells me all the chores and errands she wants me to run, and I counter with all the work I have to do for school. Then later she'll ask me if I have so much work, why am I sleeping until noon and reading science fiction books. It's nice to have a routine.
