Chapter 5: Freshman Back to School

We had been back on the road about five minutes after our coffee stop when the first snowflakes hit the windshield. Wanda, who had been slumping in her seat, completely uninterested in the surroundings, sat up and watched as snow collected on the hood of the car.

It was comical to see her rotate her head to one side of the road and back to the front as if she were counting the flakes. Within another five minutes the road was getting slick, the windshield wipers were working at top speed and all traffic on the road was slowed to a crawl. It was clear to me that we were not going to make it to Pontiac at the usual time.

I recalled the snowstorm when Ned was driving me to school my freshman year at Cromwell. He had kept the wheels straight and maintained the same speed. I tried to follow those rules, but as we started to climb a steep hill the wheels began to spin and we went into a skid, narrowly avoiding going into a ditch on the wrong side of the road.

"What are they doing behind me?" I asked Wanda and when she didn't react I repeated the question, more forcefully. "What's happening back there? I can't see."

She turned in her seat. "They've stopped at the bottom of the hill," she reported.

I got the car straightened out and tried to make another run at the incline but the roadbed was too slippery to get traction.

"We need more speed," I said, putting the car into reverse.

Wanda unfastened her seatbelt and turned in the seat to help guide me down the hill. I glanced at her once or twice and thought she looked kind of cute, perched on her knees with her hands of the back of the seat. "To the left, too far to the left, straight, too much, over, that's it, you're good, not so fast, slow the fuck down, that's ... okay ... stop, STOP, DAMN IT!"

Wanda touched me; she reached out and touched me. Actually, her gloved hand was beating on my shoulder as she told me to stop.

"Roll down your window. I want to talk to this guy," I said.

I spoke to the driver of the first car in line and told him to wait until I made it before he attempted to follow us. He nodded and wished us luck.

"Turn around and put your seatbelts on," I ordered, and Wanda complied.

I remembered the hill from previous trips and knew there was another hill ahead but if we could make the second hill it would be flatland the rest of the way. I picked up as much speed as I dared and held the wheel steady. When we passed the place where the skid had taken place I knew we were going to make it, but I don't think Wanda was as confident. She kept watch, her eyes darting from side to side.

We were half way down the other side of the hill when I heard her release a giant sigh of relief.

"We're not out of the woods yet," I warned her. We still had another hill ahead of us and I was trying to maintain the proper speed to make it up the incline without spinning out.

We made it up the next hill and as soon as we were on the flat Wanda leaned toward me as far as her seatbelt would allow. "You did it!" Her shriek didn't affect me but the kiss on my cheek nearly made me lose control of the wheel.

I tried to keep the speed at twenty-five miles per hour, but there were times when the falling snow was too blinding to see the road and I had to slow down. We were going very slowly when we saw a car in the ditch and the driver trying to flag us down.

"You're not stopping!" Wanda hissed at me.

"They're from Pontiac," I said, sure that I had seen the young couple around the school.

"One of the other cars will stop. We don't have room for them," she said.

"We don't know that the other cars made it up the first hill," I argued. By that time, we were already stopped and the guy was looking into the car. "Roll down the window and let's see what he wants."

Wanda frowned and rolled down her window. "Can we have a ride? There's a service station just up the road," he said.

"Hop up on the center console and let them in," I ordered but Wanda didn't move.

"There isn't room," she complained.

"Open the fucking door and let them in. She can sit on his lap and you can sit on the console." I was getting angry and showed it.

Wanda moved quickly, unsnapping her seatbelt, opening the door, telling the guy to have a seat and lifting her own ass onto the center console. I liked the way she finally followed my orders.

Duane and Laura Nagle introduced themselves and got comfortable in the passenger seat. They were twins, sophomores in the business program at Pontiac and shared an apartment in town. Duane was hoping the service station would pull his car out of the ditch and get them back on the road.

The service station was only ten miles away but it took us the better part of thirty minutes to make it there. I had to concentrate on my driving. The blinding snow and the slick road were only part of it, I was finding Wanda's perfume distracting but what was really interfering with my concentration was the edge of the domino she kept running up and down my cheek, like she was shaving me.

I don't know what Duane and Laura thought about us. They knew I was a freshman at Pontiac but Wanda hadn't told them she was a graduate student. They must have known that Wanda's antics were putting us in peril. Her head was blocking my view of the rearview mirror and the domino 'shave' was making me hard. I didn't want her to stop.

"Check behind us," I said and Wanda dutifully turned her body, placing her hand on my shoulder for support and accidentally brushing my arm with her tit.

"Nothing back there, Honey," she reported as she turned back to the front.

"Thanks, Honey," I said, to play along with her little game.

She must have known that the domino was driving me crazy because she continued to run it over my cheek until I pulled into the service station.

I decided to fill the gas tank while Duane went inside to see if he could get help. Laura remained seated and Wanda continued to sit on the center console while the attendant pumped gas into the tank.

"How much farther do we have to go?" Wanda asked.

"About one hundred miles," I estimated.

"Oh, goody," she said, mischievously.

I didn't know what she meant by that comment. Duane came back and said the station was going to pull his car out of the ditch. He thanked us and, looking to his sister for approval, invited us to their apartment for dinner on Saturday night. Wanda didn't correct Duane's obvious assumption that we were a couple and I didn't either.

"I wonder how many bedrooms they have," Wanda said when we were back on the road. She was back in her seat but sitting up high with her legs folded under her ass.

"What are you suggesting?"

"She didn't mind sitting on his lap. I was just wondering if she's fucking her brother, that's all."

Hearing Wanda talk at all was strange but hearing her talk like that was even stranger. I glanced at her and noticed she was holding the domino between her fingers.

"I don't think so," I ventured. "She sat on his lap out of necessity. It doesn't mean they do it all the time."

"I've often wondered what it would be like to have a brother."

"I wouldn't know. I don't have a brother either," I said, letting thoughts of Heather, my half-sister, enter my mind. Was she all right?

Wanda played with the domino between her fingers for the rest of the trip. I don't know if it was for luck or she was doing it to remind me of how she had 'shaved' my cheek with it. I wondered if she knew that I found it exciting, having her close, putting on a show for our passengers.

I nearly lost control of the car on the bridge. The Pontiac River looked cold and angry below. Wanda jerked her head my way but she didn't say anything as I took my foot off the accelerator and prayed that the tires would find traction. The thought that I had to cross the bridge again on my way back to the dorm scared me.

Ice was beginning to form on the trees as we passed the graduate school.

I calculated that we had been on the road for over nine hours, which would make the time about three-thirty. We hadn't seen a single snowplow and there was an accumulation of maybe six inches of snow on the ground. The ice would make travel even more dangerous. I was hungry and wondered if Wanda would invite me in for something to eat.

We breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief as the car skidded to a stop in front of her house. Wanda hopped out of the car, opened the back door, got her duffle bag and tromped through the snow to her front door without so much as a backward glance.

"What an ungrateful bitch! I hope she falls on her ass!" I said out loud. She didn't fall, but she did have trouble getting inside the house. She reached into her pocket, withdrew the domino, frowned, threw it in the snow and reached into her pocket the second time to retrieve a key.

I put the car in gear and sped off, too pissed to consider that I was driving in slippery snow and thinking how funny it would be if she had the wrong key. I made it back over the bridge without difficulty. The town was deserted and the campus looked the same. I parked near the dorm and ran upstairs to take a leak before I even thought about unloading the car. It took three trips to carry my computer and my new clothes to the second floor.

Once I got everything situated I roamed the halls, looking to see if there was anyone else as crazy as me. My search turned up no one on the second and third floors. On the first floor a female's voice answered my knock. We didn't know each other but she seemed glad to see me. She told me there were a few other students in the other dorms, kids who had remained at school for the holidays and a few who had, like me, returned early. She said the cafeteria would be open at five.

I introduced myself and found out her name was Tracy. We made plans to walk to the cafeteria together, and I went upstairs with the intention of setting up my computer.

But I never got around to unpacking the machine, let alone setting it up. The telephone rang constantly. Suzanne said she had been trying to reach me for hours. She said Mr. Rowell had called to find out if she knew why it was taking us so long to make the trip. She kept asking if I was sure I was all right. Having her concerned about my welfare was comforting, but answering the same question over and over got old.

Karen said she had heard about the snow and called Suzanne to get my number. I told her it had been a long tiring trip but that I had arrived safely. She apologized about the way her brother-in-law had acted. I told her it wasn't her fault. "Will you write to me?" she asked and I promised to write often.

"I'll write to you, too," she said.

Marcy was just as hard to convince. I didn't tell her how Wanda had dismissed me because I didn't want to hear her berate me for kowtowing to Wanda. I did tell her that I hadn't eaten since breakfast and gave her reason to sympathize with me.

The 'phone was ringing again when Tracy came to find me.

"Sammy, I'm so inconsiderate. I didn't thank you for driving so carefully and delivering me safely to my door. Can you ever forgive me?"

"You're forgiven. Did you talk to your dad?" I asked.

"Yes, I told him that I felt safe being with you. I'll see you Saturday, right?"

"Right, Wanda. The cafeteria will be open any minute. I've got to go." I answered.

"Sammy?"

"Yes?"

There was a short pause. "Nothing, you go get something to eat."

There were fifteen students and six college workers sharing three tables in the cafeteria. Most of the students were acquainted, having spent the holidays in the dorms, but someone suggested that since there was a new guy, we re-introduce ourselves so that's what we did. The college workers were there to look after the heat, hot water and our safety. One of the maintenance workers said he didn't expect the snowplows to arrive until after it stopped snowing. He said he would come and get me if my car needed to be moved.

The sole cafeteria worker served mainly cold food but there were no limits on what we took and there were no complaints. She said she would open for breakfast at seven am.

When we arrived back at the dorm, I told Tracy that I was going to set up my computer but she was welcome to come upstairs and talk if she wanted. She thanked me but declined the invitation. It was just as well because my phone was ringing when I opened the door to the common room.

"Sammy, did you get something to eat?" Wanda asked, sounding almost human.

"Yes, thanks for asking," I said, wondering if that was why she had called. I soon found out.

"What I said before."

"Yes?" I answered, wondering if she was going to back out of going to Duane and Laura's for dinner on Saturday night.

"I had to pee."

I laughed.

"That's why I went right inside and didn't thank you. I'm sorry."

"That's understandable."

"I wanted to tell you that I found the domino. You must have seen me throw it in the snow but I went back outside and dug around until I found it."

"That's good. I'm glad you were able to find it."

"It was so cold in the snow. Do you think I should let it sleep with me?"

"Yes, I do," I said, wondering where this was going.

She giggled. "Just to warm it up, I wasn't planning to do anything kinky," she said, giggling again.

"I didn't think you would."

"I just wanted you to know about the domino. I didn't want you to think I threw it away and couldn't find it."

We both heard the knock on the outer door. "Sounds like you have company. I'll see you Saturday," Wanda said before she hung up.

Tracy had reconsidered, saying she was tired of being alone in her room. She took a seat on the other bed and watched me unpack my computer and begin setting it up. I explained that I hadn't brought the stand because there wasn't enough room in the car. She said she had seen a furniture store in the town and offered to show me where it was located if I planned to look for a computer stand.

It wasn't as if I would have trouble finding the furniture store on my own. I think she knew that, but we agreed to go check out the store the next day if the roads were plowed.

Tracy was not what I would call cute or even good looking but she was good company on a snowy night. Like me, she was a business student and unlike me she was taking accounting. I told her about Donna advising me to wait until my second year to take Accounting 101, because it was time consuming and I was bound to have more time to devote to the homework when I was a sophomore.

We talked about our families but didn't get into anything more personal than how many siblings we had and what we planned to do after graduation. I got my computer running and lamented the fact that I would need to move it when I found a stand.

"I'll help," she offered and then looked around. "Who's your roommate?"

"I don't have one. He got kicked out of school," I said.

When it was time for us to say goodnight, I offered to walk her to her room but she declined the offer, saying she would be fine.

It didn't stop snowing until early the next morning. That's when the campus police came to ask me to move my car.

The main streets were clear when we walked to the cafeteria for breakfast. Tracy went with me to the furniture store and I picked up a stand that took me all afternoon to assemble. I believe I could have put it together in half the time if Tracy hadn't insisted on helping.

Our little group of students did everything together. We invaded the sparsely occupied learning center each morning, played in the snow each afternoon, ate all of our meals together and hung out at night. I was able to do some research on something I had been hearing about, the study of the town's economy. For once, the girls in our group outnumbered boys eight to seven. If it hadn't been for Tracy always being around I would have hit on one of the more attractive girls. I would have liked to have gotten to know Shirley, a long-legged junior with a nice even-teeth smile and a gentle disposition but the group was always a little too cohesive; there was no way to cut a heifer from the herd.

I didn't get a chance to write to Karen until Friday afternoon.

Dear Karen,

I'm sure you found the expanded set of dominoes that I left on your coffee table. I would like for you to consider replacing the double six tile on your mantle with the double twelve tile from the expanded set.

It would mean that we would have eighteen more 'times' together. Does that appeal to you? It appeals to me.

I've been invited to a wedding on the Forth of March. Will you be my date?

Sammy

I addressed and stamped the envelope and left the letter on my desk so I wouldn't forget to mail it the next day.

"Who's Karen Parker?" Tracy asked when she stopped by my room.

"She's ... ah ... Karen's my mixed doubles partner," I said, just as the telephone rang.

"Hello? ... oh, Hi ... what should you wear? Something black, I guess ... seven, I think but I'll pick you up at six-thirty. I want to stop and pick up wine ... no, I can't buy it but you can. You're twenty-one, right? ... Twenty-two? ... I don't know why I thought you were ... no, I believe you. You're mature enough to be twenty-two ... no, really, you are ... I told you to wear something black ... no, not slinky ... what time? ... no, what time should I come? ... will that give you enough time to get ready? ... Okay, I'll pick something out but I'm not going to fucking dress you ... no, I didn't mean it that way ... okay, I'll see you tomorrow at ... what's that? ... I didn't mean anything about ... so you're twenty-two, I like older women ... I'm serious ... Wanda ... Wanda I've got to ... okay, I'll be there at five-thirty."

I was smiling to myself when I hung up the 'phone but my smile faded as soon as I noticed Tracy's solemn expression. She was looking at me like she had caught me slitting her mother's throat.

"Who's Wanda?"

"She's ... ah ... Wanda's a friend of my family. Our dads are in business together.

Tracy wasn't buying my explanation. "You're going to dress her?"

"No, that's just the way we talk sometimes. She's a little weird. I have to humor her," I said, forcing myself to laugh.

"Are you humoring Karen, too? Is that why you wrote the letter? Why didn't you tell me you had all these girlfriends?"

I looked up at Tracy and pondered my answer to her questions. She was standing in the doorway to the common room and I was still seated at one of the chairs with my feet on the table. Did her questions deserve an answer?

"Karen's twenty-seven," I began but before I could make my point Tracy interrupted me.

"You just said that you like older women. I heard you."

"Okay, you're right. I did say that but Karen is twenty-seven and has a little boy. She's my tennis partner, that's all. I told you Wanda is a little weird. She paints her fingernails chartreuse," I said and waited for Tracy's reaction. Why had I lied about Karen being only my tennis partner? I didn't know the color Wanda had painted her nails. I made a mental note to look up chartreuse.

Just when I was thinking, 'why am I explaining anything? I owe her nothing, ' Kent saved the day.

I moved quickly, getting to my feet and swooping Tracy out of the way of Kent, who was so loaded down with baggage that he was too spent to speak. Tracy, stunned by my actions, misunderstood my intentions, wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her body into mine. She was puckering her lips to be kissed when I spoke.