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small social events Since I had to return some movies to the video store this morning, I made it to the campus earlier than I usually do. Whenever this happens I search for some place to sit and read to pass the time. Jack Maggs is our modern counterpart to Great Expectations and so far I think that the author has done a good job of keeping some of the better elements intact. Instead of Pip and Magwitch we have Percy and Jack bound togther under odd circumstances. Even better we have Tobias Oates standing in for Charles Dickens himself. Maybe the ending will change my mind, but I haven't finished it yet. Then as I was walking to the classroom I vaguely noticed that three girls were coming my way. It wasn't until one of them spoke to me that I realized that it was Jennifer and two of her friends from class. She quickly told me that class had been cancelled and wanted to know if I would join them at the union. Since I was already there, it sounded like a better idea than just driving back home. On our way across campus we were joined by yet another person from class bringing our group total to five. Walking with them felt strange yet nice at the same time. I mean the only person that I really knew was Jennifer, but that was enough to make me tag along. She has that kind of personality that brings people together. Soon we made our way down to the more hip part of the union where four giant television screens lined one wall of the restaurant. Jennifer and her friend Stephanie wanted to catch Maury. I just shook my head as we settled into the booth with Jennifer, Stephanie and Kevin on one side and Carrie and me on the other side. Earlier this semester I had guessed that Carrie was probably nineteen or twenty at the most and this afternoon I found out that I was right. She said that her twenty-first birthday was coming up soon. It was somewhere around here that Jen pointed out that I was the oldest one in the group. Stephanie didn't believe it even after I showed her my drivers license. In fact she looked at it a long time before she handed it back. Somehow in the course of events Stephanie, Carrie and I were left alone and I could feel the silence falling on us. Without Jennifer there to keep things going I knew that I would have to say something. Unfortunately I wasn't quite sure what to say. Even though we have class together their world seems so far away from mine and from what I could gather I think that I get far more from the class than they do. A ten year age gap is rather wide, but I think that Stephanie might be twenty-three. I didn't ask. In some ways I am envious of the world that they still have with them. I can remember when I had connections in college. I could get so many things for free, mainly beer and movies. Then again I had that life once and I think that that was enough. Part of me has to wonder what Stephanie and Carrie must think of me. Obviously they have both heard me ramble on at length in class, but to see me outside of the class is another story. Maybe they'll tell me as the semester moves forward. I don't know. This little encounter wasn't planned and might be the last one of its kind. Carrie mentioned a boyfriend which is fine with me, but Stephanie didn't. Once again part of me was glad to hear it, because Stephanie looks good in bib overalls, which is one of many weaknesses of mine. As if I had time for a girlfriend and one that is at least five years younger than me. Keep dreaming, my boy. Keep dreaming. Although I do wonder if Jen had an ulterior motive for asking me to come along and then leaving me alone with Stephanie. No, she was just going to get some food and I was seriously thinking of asking Miss Zealot to see Anna Karenina with me.
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