empty lot?
an
I
parked
at Chafee. I
parked
behind White hall. I
aside Independence. I tried the water on Upper College Hill Road, and then some frat parking lots. 1 raced toward the Quad and even considered parking on it, but my better judgement caught up with me. Instead I parked halfway up the steps that lead
parked
Ranger hall and reflected about how good life had been to me lately. Gulls circled overhead. "This is the life!" I screamed to the gulls. "This is the life!" I made my way toward the library to look for some fun. It was still open and I was surprised. I strolled between the shelves of books on the third floor and soaked myself in silence. It was absolutely incredible. I sat at a window facing the Quad and watched a small crowd gather around my Oldsmobile parked at a tilted angle atop Ranger's steps. They looked like janitorial workers from what I could see. Most of them were shaking their heads back and forth with sad expressions on their wrinkled faces. Others were simply into
gasping
for air.
I
got up and walked around the library some empty study spot after empty study spot made me
more.
Passing
want to study, anything that needed doing. So I just moved onward and daydreamed. I had trouble believing that I couldn't hear a single freshman blowing his nose, or a young jock laughing loudly to his friends. It was beautiful. Some people have to drink to feel this good, Itold myself. The magic of silence tickled my soul. It felt good. 1 practically hopped back to my car on the springs of good cheer.
but I didn't have
But before I
even
neared the black
giant,
I sensed
something
wrong. The gulls had dashed toward the ocean and the janitorial workers were chanting obscene lyrics to old folk ballads. When 1 saw
the tow truck, my heart
was
in the crowd. As the
dropped.
I didn't
see
youngest person there,
I
the cop until 1 the obvious
was
target of attention. car, son?" the policeman asked me. "Why no, sir," I replied. I was far to embarrassed to admit that a fool thing. "What kind of idiot would park like
"Your
had done such that?"
"If I find him, I'll kill him," the officer said, "It's as simple we tow it like we were yanking a bad tooth."
as
that. But first
"Good," I mumbled. "I'd bet they don't
tow
cars
in Florida."
But nobody heard me. I stumbled out with my hands in my pockets. My good holiday cheer had turned to a black oily cloud that sank from my chest where it enveloped my heart like a burial
shroud. I wandered around
campus for hours not knowing what to do. "They towed my car," I repeated to myself over and over
again. "They The
sun
towed my Olds."
set without my
ever
having noticed and a sharp chill blew from the West. Somehow my aimless wandering brought me to the Chafee parking lot where the groaning howl of the wind dragged across the deserted pavement like the ghosts of radials past. I shivered in the cold. I looked up and stared into the bright grinning face of the
moon. Looking up, cranking my neck to an absurd angle, I considered the moon. same moon all my friends in Florida are looking at at this very moment, I
That's the
94
mm