Chapter 18: At the Zoo

Friday, July 22, 1983

Dr. Danforth started morning assembly by telling us that Beth was in the hospital and expected to make a full recovery. He hoped she’d be back by Monday. It was indeed caffeine poisoning. He strongly cautioned everyone to be extremely careful with how many NoDoz they took, how much coffee they drank, and so forth. Good advice no matter what.

Carolyn and I wrapped up our last day working together by going through a full round against one of the other teams in our class. Personally, I thought they and we were the top two in the class, but we hadn’t competed in a way that would prove that, nor did they score today’s round.

It was still a good round, and I felt ready for the tournament.

Carolyn decided to team up with Peter for the tournament. Given that Cammie had trained him, it seemed like a good move to me.

Saturday, July 23, 1983

We loaded up into buses at nine to head to the Brookfield Zoo. It’s not the only zoo in Chicago, but it’s the biggest and the best.

This was the smallest turnout yet. I really wished people could keep sight of priorities. Next week’s tournament was meaningless. Cammie and I still wanted to win, but winning got you some pats on the back and nothing else.

Seeing something that most of them might not get another chance to see for years, or possibly ever? Totally worth the day, and totally worth not winning the tournament.

All of our group went, of course. Carolyn and Peter still counted as part of our group. Laura didn’t, but she went, and she’d made a point of being friendly with me before we boarded the bus. For those people paying attention, the hatchet was publicly buried.

The zoo itself was quite a lot of fun. It’d been a long time since I’d gone to a zoo, after all. My ex-wife had enjoyed them, and we’d mostly had a good time visiting them (or, at least, I couldn’t remember any knock-down, drag-out fights while at one). We didn’t have Amit here to stand up for the honor of Indian animals, but that was fine.

We mostly stuck together. Carolyn and Peter joined us a few times, as did Heather and Kim, two Drama girls that seemed fairly close to Angie, Jas, and Paige. I’d barely met them before now, but they seemed nice.

Jas and I shocked them a bit, as it turned out. We joked about taking our kids to the zoo one day, and somehow they got the impression that we already had some. We had to clarify that, no, we did not, and also no, we weren’t married nor engaged and kids were a ways off yet.

Paige giggled quite a bit when she figured it out, and Angie followed suit.

“We know what prevents that from happening,” Paige said.

“Yeah,” Kim said. “Dating girls. Works every time!”

“Not for guys,” I said.

“Um ... point!” she said. “I meant, for girls.”

Angie and Paige grinned and high-fived each other. I figured that meant they were out to Heather and Kim, at least.

We got to eat outside along one of the walkways in the African area. They closed it to other guests for a couple of hours to accommodate us. It was one of the few times all of us were together — all the Northwestern people had told us was to be at the gates at five and not to leave the zoo.

Laura joined us for lunch and chattered away about the animals she’d particularly liked. She wanted to visit the snakes after lunch. That was either a clever move on her part or a lucky one, since neither Cammie nor Paige wanted to see the snakes. Jas elected to avoid them, too, though they didn’t bother her, so Angie and I would be the only ones with Laura for a little while.

Once in the herpetarium (yes, that includes more than snakes, but the others didn’t really want to see the lizards and such, either), we avoided the others.

Angie said, “Good to see you. How’s Debate?”

Laura shrugged. “Practice rounds were fine. I’m not sure who I’ll partner with. Maybe I’ll just let them pair me with someone. I’ve done a poor job of making friends.”

“Me, too,” I said. “I think we both had other things on our minds.”

She nodded. “How’s Drama?”

“We’re busy,” Angie said. “I’m learning Miss Adelaide and a bunch of chorus numbers. Everyone else is like that. We’re not doubling up with small parts — there are too many of us — but we’re all busy.”

“I couldn’t do it,” Laura said. “I’m really not that good at memorization.”

“It’s an art,” I said. “Part of it is knowing the character well enough that, if you flub a line, what comes out sounds right and stays in character.”

“Yeah,” Angie said. “For a real show, we spend months learning the character. On Broadway, it’s all they do. They live and breathe their characters.”

“Which,” Laura said, “is a nice segue. I’ve been watching. I know you both can act, but I’m convinced that you’re not the people I knew. For one thing, there’s no point. You’ve got nothing to gain except maybe one petty humiliation if I believe you and you’re lying, but you’d have a ton to lose if I caught you lying and changed my plans. If you’d played it quiet, I’d still just be thinking you were some other Steve who didn’t know me from Eve. I’d already convinced myself that our other meetings were coincidences and you didn’t know me.”

“I’m glad. We can play this how you want,” I said. “Steer clear, try to stay more in touch, whatever.”

“Right now I’d say more in touch than not. As far as we know, the three of us are unique. Maybe I said the right thing, or maybe that’s a coincidence, but either way, we should listen to each other.”

“That’s what I was hoping,” I said.

Angie nodded. “Me, too.”

“That said,” she said, “I’m playing my cards close to my chest for now.”

“That won’t bother me,” I said. “You deserve to play them how you want to.”

“Definitely!” Angie said. “Steve and I are a team, but ... c’mon. Same house, same parents, same ... lots of things.”

Laura chuckled. “I know siblings who are at each other’s throats. I’m glad it works for you, though.”

“Us, too!” I said, nearly at the same time as Angie.

“The news piece helped,” Laura said. “That was all just ... it’s not the guy I knew. The skills are similar. The guy I knew was amazing at getting people to like and trust him, and you are, too. But it was always about him. The thing that I came back to was that he couldn’t have done what you did, because he couldn’t have stomached teammates that finished higher than he did. He’d have spiked their Prom simply to do it, not because they were gay — though he hated lesbians — but because they’d beaten him. Oh, he’d have spiked it in a way that left him looking like a saint, but he’d still have done it.”

Angie nodded. “If any of us had told the wrong people the wrong things — even some people on our side — it would’ve turned into a three-ring circus that everyone would have hated, which would’ve made them hate Lizzie and Janet. He could’ve said a few things and looked like he was just giving it his all.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I mean, not that I thought of that, so much as ... yeah. I knew who not to talk to, definitely.”

Laura smiled, then looked more serious. “Don’t break my heart, okay? I find myself liking you. Not more than liking you, but genuinely liking you.”

Before I could say anything, she shook her head and waved me off. “No, I mean ... well. Isn’t that what girls say to guys who they want to let down easy? Seriously, if it wasn’t for the past — which isn’t your fault — I’d be open to a lot more. Right now, though ... friends. Friends is good. Just don’t fuck that up, please. That would break my heart.”

Angie smiled softly. “Before he says it — because I don’t think he will — I’ll go back to Candice and her attempted suicide. She had some really serious issues in her life before Steve and she ever met. Right now they’re friends, and that’s all they can be, because ... the past is the past. Neither of them is to blame, but it’s not something they can put aside. It’s ... sometimes the past is what it is, and you can’t fix it, just make the best of where you are now.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I wouldn’t have said that, but ... it’s true.”

Laura smiled softly. “I think I get it, or ... enough. Also ... I like Jasmine. I really do. She’s a really cool person, and ... she’s ... well ... I mean, if he’d had a conscience or morals or anything, the guy I knew wouldn’t have been that guy, but if somehow he’d had one, just a weak one, Jasmine would’ve been perfect. She’d have gotten a hold on him and taught him how to be a decent guy. Since you already have that, I can see you fitting together. I mean, I barely know you, but the guy I knew was never going to be a one-woman man. He could’ve been a one-woman, plus some flings, type of guy, though, and with a wife who’s just fine with that? Totally different situation.”

“I was a one-woman man for a long time,” I said, “The thing is, I never bought into it philosophically, only ... if you make a promise like that, you keep it. So ... I could be, now, but...”

“But you’re not and you don’t have to be,” Angie said, “which gets your beliefs and your reality aligned.”

By this point we’d seen almost everything there was to see. Laura said, “We’ll have to catch up soon! Have a great rest of the outing. I’m going to go mingle with some others. I still need a partner!”

“Best of luck!” I said.

“Definitely!” Angie said.

I held the door for Laura, then Angie. Laura turned left, while we turned right, and Angie’s hand found mine.

“That was cool,” Angie said.

“It was,” I said, nodding. “I like her. I ... maybe like her more than if she was more ... available.”

“Because you wouldn’t pursue your Laura now, right?”

“Right. Jas is perfect for me. Laura was the dream of an emotionally immature guy who would’ve taken anything. I think she’d have been great for me, then, but ... now? There’s no deep connection for us to rebuild. If she’d been totally into me, and expecting fireworks, it’d have been really awkward.”

“Dodged a bullet,” Angie said, then grinned. “She’s easy on the eyes, though.”

“That she is,” I said.

“But, then, if that was going to get you, you and Jess...”

“Yeah. Jess is in her own universe. Sorry, Bo Derek.”

Angie giggled. “I agree. Bo’s hot, but ... head to head? Jess goes to eleven, to ... coin a phrase.”

We were both still laughing at that as we met up with the others. Jas and Paige wanted to hear the joke, so Angie rephrased it as comparing Jess to a different girl and with a less obvious riff on ‘Spinal Tap’. It was a rare case where ‘goes to eleven’ had a benign explanation. Thanks, Bo (or Blake Edwards, probably)!