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Prologue
The building was already pulsing with Friday evening revelry,--first weekend of the quarter, maybe the last care free time before the initial round of mid-terms. The cluster suite's door was propped ajar. Music issued from within, as well as voices, most of them female but I heard some rather keyed-up male guffaws as well.
"Oh!"
Janice's voice, I thought.
"Here's our friend from across the hall. Where's your boyfriend!?"
"He had to go home for the weekend," I said, before realizing what Jan had actually said. (Localized laughter.)
"Men!" Ellen exclaimed, coming up to take my hand. She led me into the common area.
"Would you like a glass of wine or bottle of beer?" she inquired. "Or we had diet Pepsi and I think Mountain dew. Susie, do we still have Mountain dew?"
"A beer, please," I said. It was another one of those muggy evenings and no air conditioning. A cold one sounded like just what the Dr. or in this case, the nurse had ordered.
"Coming right up," Ellen said. "Susie, grab one of those Michelobs."
As someone, presumably Susie, put a cold, damp stubby into my hand Ellen inquired close to my ear. "Have you and Duncan found time to talk any more?"
"Oh," I said, "I invited him again but he said he wouldn't be around this weekend so we'd hang out together Sunday night."
"Hang out," Ellen said. Sounds promising."
I had intended my comment as neutral in nature but Ellen was putting on the lascivious spin. I fervently hoped nobody was listening. "You know, have some wine together," I objected, knowing as I did so that it sounded like I was covering up. So I stopped trying to explain and took a long pull at my beer.
"How did you and Ellen meet?" In the way of parties like this, Ellen had drifted away and there was another young woman's voice at my elbow.
"She showed me around the dorm the first night," I said. "Downstairs and stuff."
"And have you talked to her much since then, besides last night I mean? I'm Sally by the way.
"I'm another one of the nursing students like her and Susie."
"A couple of times," I said. "She's a nice person."
"You two spent an awful long time there in her room,” Sally pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess," I said, hoping this would be the end of it but feeling like I needed to add something, I said "I had something I needed to talk over with her."
"Really?" Sally asked. "We thought you guys were in there making out."
I sensed Sally'd taken aboard more than I so far and the alcohol was to some extent at least, talking for her. Later, I'd learn that she was just being Sally.
"No," I told her. “I was just asking her advice on something."
"Was it medical?" Sally asked next. "You know she's a nursing student, right?"
"Yeah she'd mentioned that." I probably should have said it had been health-related because Sally reiterated "We were all curious about what was going on in there."
Then Ellen reappeared and supplied "Don't be such a nosy bitch, Sal. He wanted to talk to me about his roommate."
Of course that just heightened the interest all around. A male voice nearby asked "You room with Duncan Smeddley don't you?"
"Yes," I admitted. "I just met him Sunday."
"But you're gay too?" the voice pursued. "My name's Tim."
No," I said, "not really."
"What?" Tim inquired "you mean my name's not really Tim?"
"No," I said, "the other."
(I had arrived five days ago on that drizzly June evening in 1974 and this week of classes like the rest of the summer I'd later reflect, seemed to have been playing on fast forward!)
Chapter One
“So, this is McMahon Hall!” Mom exclaimed. "The thing must be twelve stories high!"
She and I debarked from Dad's Scout International into the wet. As Dad moved along to find parking, we crossed pavement and swung through the hissing double doors into the dorm lobby.
"I guess we'll try over here to this counter?" Mom suggested, leading me past an idling television set nobody seemed to be watching. "Excuse me Miss, our son is checking in this evening."
"Room 304," I put in.
The student on duty shuffled some papers. "Three oh four?" she echoed.
"Yes," I confirmed. My room assignment had come in the mail toward the end of last Quarter.
"Okay," she seemed to be talking in my direction, a big point in her favor. "Can you sign here for me please?" I could and did.
“Here are your keys and your meal card.”
"Thank you," I said, reaching for the square little envelope before Mom could.
"Now you'll be going up the North Elevator, right there(obviously pointing)."
“Thanks,” Mom and I said together. Mom made her usual attempt to get hold of me. I withdrew my arm and took Mom's elbow. Dad reappeared, having found a cart somewhere and was going back to the Jeep for the first load of my stuff.
Mom and I took the elevator to the Third Floor.
"Well," she said, "here are rooms 304 to 308. I guess yours is inside somewhere."
I extracted the pair of keys on their little ring from the envelope. The first key fit the outer door. I opened and held it.
Mom stepped in ahead of me. "Wow," she said. We've got one, two, three rooms on this side of the suite here and it looks like another one, two three rooms over on the other side (her voice receded). Here's the bathroom over across from room 308 and here's a rec room and a balcony. This is pretty snazzy, Kid!" Mom retraced her steps. This is room 304," she said.
"Is that yours?"
"Right," I told her.
Mom pushed open the door. "Oh," she announced, “you've got a room mate."
“Hi," said a nice-sounding voice, maybe a bit light in the timbre. "I'm Duncan."
I thought he might be a bit younger than me. "Dave," I said. "My Mom."
"Oh," he said. Duncan had taken up the window side of the room and didn't seem to be exactly pleased that he'd have company this Summer. This would change.
Dad arrived a few minutes later with the cart and the first of several loads. Mom was still fussing about wanting to
