By the middle of July, when summer term was ready to start, I had just about exhausted my search for any trace of Bobbi. Pam hadn’t heard from her, Molly didn’t have a clue as to where she had disappeared to. She didn’t even attend her own graduation. It was almost like she had fallen off the face of the earth. My last hope was to find out what law firm Mr. Anderson had worked for and to try to find out, through them, any information as to the whereabouts of Mr. Anderson and Bobbi.

I called the office and spoke with a lady, a secretary I guess, stating that I was an old client of Mr. Anderson’s and I needed to get in touch with him concerning some legal advice. I was told that Mr. Anderson no longer worked for the firm and asked if I would like to speak with another attorney who was handling all of Mr. Anderson’s clients. I acted surprised and told her that I was a personal friend of his, that I needed to get in touch with him and would appreciate knowing where Bob had “hung out his shingle”. She must have felt comfortable with the familiarity that I displayed with Mr. Anderson and confided in me that he had moved his family out to Denver, Colorado last month but she didn’t know where he had gained employment. I thanked her for that information and hung up rather abruptly. He had moved to Denver, I guess my search had come to an end.

I moped around for the first few weeks into the summer term. My grades were suffering, I wasn’t taking care of myself and I was generally going downhill, until one day when I awoke, feeling sorry for myself, I finally said, “Enough of this, she gone! We had a great time, but it wasn’t meant to be! It’s time to move on!”

With that, I changed my entire outlook on life. A spring came back to my step and I actually started smiling at people. One thing that I noticed immediately with my improved attitude was I started noticing my surroundings once again and that included some of the people that I was attending class with, one person in particular, a great looking girl in my Stats class. She looked to be older, not old, but definitely not an underclassman. I would guess she was a senior, maybe a grad student, back to take a Stats course.

As I was wondering to myself how to peg her into a classification one day in class, she noticed me starring at her. She smiled my direction, got up and moved her stuff into the desk beside me. I was started, dumbfounded and embarrassed all rolled up in one, as she sat beside me, extended her hand to me and said, “Sorry to break into your dream world, but I thought that if I was the attraction of your little dream then I might as well get to know you. Hi, my name is Jesse. You are?”

“Uh,” I stammered, “Hi Jesse, my name is Ben, Ben Morgan. And I wasn’t dreaming anything but that you look out of place here. No, I didn’t mean “Out of place here in to classroom”, out of place here on campus. I mean…Can I start over?”

She was looking at me with this contended little smile on her face, like she was enjoying the fact that she got me flustered.

“I’m Ben. Nice to meet you Jesse,” I finally said, shaking her hand. “I haven’t seen you around campus before. Are you new here, a transfer student or grad student?”

As the professor walked into the room and assumed his position at the front chalkboard, she replied, “Yes,” and gave me another sly little smile, turning her attention to the professor


The bell sounded, indicating the class had ended for the day (what are the odds of that happening?) and we all were gathering up our books, when Jesse finally blurted out “Grad, I’m a Grad student, here to take this class and Advanced Calculus. I’m working on my Masters of Education. I’m a high school Math teacher; well I’m trying to be anyway. This is my second year coming up and I felt like I needed some advanced class work to see me through the trial contract period. You know, “Show them that you care, and all that shit. Opps,” she said, suddenly placing her hand over her mouth, “Sorry about that.”

“Sorry about saying “Shit?” I think I’ve heard it before. Yes, I actually have even said it before. Can you believe that?”

“You have? Well, after you got so flustered at my introduction, I was beginning to wonder,” she said with that devilish little twinkle coming out in her smile.

“Do you want to go for a Coke or something?” I asked.

“I was hoping for something a little stronger than a Coke,” she answered in a whimsical tone.

“But it’s only 3 in the afternoon,” I said mockingly.

“That means it’s after 6 o’clock somewhere and it’s time for a cool one,” she replied.

“Well, I’ve got plenty of beer back at my apartment if you’re willing,” I suggested.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said, grabbing my arm. “Which way?” and we started walking back to my apartment.

During the summer term, Paul and Mike were not attending college; it was only me securing the rent for next year. I actually liked the solitude of living on my own, with no one there to distract you. I always got my best grades attending summer school. It was my theory that it was for that very reason, no distractions that led to those grades. Not as if I had any real problems with college. I was a 3.85 student, majoring in Business Management with an emphasis on Hospitality and Entertainment.

I had received a full ride as a freshman when I told my counselor my intentions to graduate in three years. He told me to take my time and enjoy this opportunity of college life. I told him three years was enough time and I wanted to experience what was on the other side of my educational time. So, in four more terms, after this summer, I’ll be out and ready for the next phase of my life.

We chatted about her teaching position over at the neighboring town. How she had accepted the contract after graduating from Saint Mary’s University the year before. She rented an apartment near campus and she had noticed me the first day of class, but it seemed that I had other things on my mind. In fact, today was the first time that she ever noticed me looking around at any of the other students. I explained that I had something on my mind, but now that it was resolved, I could join the rest of the world again. “Sounds like girl problems,” was her remark.

“Something like that,” was all I would reply, as I put the key in the lock and opened the door.
“Welcome to my little corner of the world,” I said, gesturing for her to come in and sit down. “Want that beer?” I inquired, heading for the frig.

“Does a bear shit in the woods?” she asked in reply.

I smiled to myself at her freedom of speech, her attitude and her daring. As I handed her her beer, I stated in my most scholarly voice, “I do not know, I have never seen one shit it the woods.