Chapter 2

Emily found she was thriving on her studies. She had always been able to learn from books and had always found math and science interesting and fairly easy. Now it was March of her senior year of high school. She had shown the school that she had learned enough trig and solid geometry that there would be no point in her taking the course her school offered. They didn’t offer Calculus but Emily had already made a good start on that subject and the school had helped her enroll in an on-line second term course for which she would receive high school credit also. Likewise with a college level physics course.

Over the last three years her brother had written her most months. He had had a number of stations and was always enthusiastic about what he was doing and where he was. After a few months in Texas he had had assignments in Germany and Hawaii and in his last letter had said he expected a transfer to Japan in the next few months. John had always wanted to see the world and now it looked like he was getting his chance.

Emily often went up on her hilltop, to study or just to sit and think. John was getting what he had wanted and now she dared to hope that somehow her own dreams might come true also.

She had continued to correspond with Professor Branson and he had helped her shape her studies. Some months earlier he had encouraged her to apply and had written the promised letter of recommendation. He had also said that with her SAT scores and grades she would almost certainly be admitted. Then he had pointed her in the right direction for scholarship and grant applications and she had filled out dozens. Her acceptance had, in fact, come as predicted. She had already received two small scholarships and the big ones should be announced in the next month or so. She had high hopes.

One afternoon she got off the school bus and pulled the mail from the mailbox. There was a fat envelope from the university and she rushed back to the house and into her room to read it. Almost afraid to open it, her hands trembling as she slit the seal, she pulled out a number of sheets of paper. She unfolded them and saw at the top of the first page the heading “Financial Aids Awards.”

She closed her eyes, said a quick silent prayer and looked down. Then she let her breath out and looked again. A scholarship and a grant. She had enough for a full ride. A second later her mother heard a near scream from Emily’s room and turned to see her daughter running towards her.

“I got it! It’s real and I’ll really be going. It’s really going to happen!”

She showed her mom the letter and in return got a tight hug. Her mother didn’t attach the same significance to college as Emily did but she understood how important it was to her daughter. She hugged her tightly and used her dish towel to wipe a few tears from Emily’s eyes.

The rest of senior year seemed to slip by quickly. Graduation came. For most of her class that was the end of their schooling and graduation was a really big thing. To Emily and a few others it was still important but not the be all and end all. This was the key to a door, a door which led to a future of which she had long dreamed.

She had, of course, e-mailed Professor Branson as soon as she had received the awards letter and he had congratulated her and had suggested a few things for her to study over the summer to make herself better prepared in the fall. To Emily, summer had not meant the end of study for a number of years and this was no exception. She again dug into the work the professor had suggested and most days spent several hours immersed in equations, theories and material most of her friends and family would not have understood of even cared about at all. But to Emily it was incredibly fascinating. She loved learning new things and the entire field caught her imagination.

As she had in the past, if the weather was good, most days would find her spending several hours up by the ancient maple, reading a thick book or working some complicated problems. She loved it. She also loved the view, the hum of the insects, the calls of the birds. She loved the smell of the summer blossoms, the sweet scent of clover that she could almost taste on her tongue. When she had ended her current reading or finished the problems on which she had been working, she would lie back and lust look out at the land. Or up at the clouds as they made their slow way across the sky. Sometimes she could see a thunder storm coming from far off and she would linger to watch it until she had to run back down the hill to avoid getting drenched.

However, Emily’s world was not limited to math and physics and such. Emily was also a romantic. In addition to math and science books she often brought books of another type up to her hilltop. She would frequently be found leaning back against the old maple and reading, sometimes out loud, Byron, Keats, Hardy or Bronte. This was a side of Emily that even John didn’t really know. Maybe part of it was that she knew none of the local boys would make a good long term prospect for her. Part of that was, of course, her driving interest in advancing her education while almost none of them ever wanted to attend another class. But part of it was that the heros of the English poems and novels seemed so much more than any real person she had ever known. She often laughed to herself at the idea of one of the boys she dated quoting romantic poetry to her or speaking the words of one of her fictional heros. The boys she dated were fine as friends and short term interests - well, not really romantic interests, but if she was honest, erotic interests. While she would not consider sleeping with any of them, long, hot make out sessions were another story altogether.

Twilight would often find Emily leaning back against her maple. Sometimes dreaming of the coming year at college. But sometimes imagining a tall, handsome man, holding her on his lap as he quoted, “She walks in beauty like the night...” or something similar. Overall, that summer, life was very good.

The third week of August Emily packed her belongings into a pair of duffles and a couple of boxes. Her parents drove her over to the campus, her fourth trip a hundred miles from home. They found her dorm and in only a few minutes had her things moved in. With long hugs they set off for home once more and Emily, for the first time in her life, was completely by herself. Surprisingly this didn’t bother her at all. She knew she could handle whatever she had to. What she was a little uncertain of was rooming with someone she didn’t know.

From the pile of stuff when she had come into her room, it was obvious that her roommate had already arrived, but she was no where in sight. There were things piled on one bed and in one closet so Emily began to place her few things in the remaining spaces. The second bed had a pile of sheets, pillow cases and towels. When she had placed her few things in the closet and the empty dresser drawers, she began to make the bed.

As she was tucking in the top sheet the door opened and a dark haired girl about her own height, maybe an inch or two shorter, entered. As she turned around the new girl said, “Hi. I’m Lynn Mason. You must be my roommate.”

Emily smiled. “I guess so. I’m Emily Letton.”

For the next few minutes the two talked and learned a little about each other. Lynn was from a small town outside Owensboro. She was planning to major in chemistry. At least they would have some of the same type of classes in common. Emily got the idea that Lynn’s family was middle class, at most, and certainly not wealthy. Lynn also had a scholarship. The more they talked, the more Emily thought they might get along quite well. Lynn seemed a serious student, not interested in wild parties, drinking or any of the other things John had warned her about. Neither girl knew anyone else on the campus.

Each desk had a cork board above it and Emily saw Lynn putting a photo up on hers. It showed her with a guy a little older than she was and another pair of teens, male and female, slightly off to the side. “Your boyfriend?” Emily asked.

“Who?” Then she saw Emily looking at the photo. “No, my brother. He’s a year older. The other two are my cousins, two years younger. No serious boyfriend.” Then she added, “Yet. What about you?”

“I have a brother, seven years older. He graduated three years ago and is the army now. In Japan by now, I think.” Emily dug out a photo of John in his uniform, along with her mother and father, and placed it on her own cork board. Then she said, “No boyfriend either.”