Fall in Cedarville was lovely, because the leaves on the trees actually turned colors besides green and the air first thing in the morning was crisp and cool, fresh. As Carolyn crossed campus, textbooks hugged to her chest, she enjoyed the sound of dried leaves crackling beneath her feet.
Fall on the road was Sheila fretting how much the boys had grown and marching them into town to take advantage of back-to-school sales even though the four of them weren’t going back to school. Fall at the Center was five a.m. wake-ups, wading through frigid water, and then hitting the gym for PT while still only half-conscious.
Carolyn had taken advantage of orientation to form a mental map of the law school and the surrounding buildings, and before school had started she’d accessed the city planner’s archives to study actual blueprints of the halls that would be her home for the next three years. This far into her first semester, her feet knew the path to her locker by heart. Sometimes, while she was opening the blue metal door, she was thrown back in time to fall semesters previous when her locker was lined with firearms and knives. She liked the neat stack of books in her locker now, and she occasionally she found herself smiling at them for no good reason.
She had to smile about something these days.
“Hey, Pierce, you coming to the big homecoming kick-off tonight? There’s gonna be booze and fun.” Lola smiled brightly and tossed her hair.
On the other side of her, Suzy rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Remember that Pierce here is a super-prodigy and is barely old enough to vote, let alone drink with us.”
Lola giggled, and her sympathy was blatantly insincere. “My bad! I forgot that while the rest of us were learning how to be human beings you were memorizing back editions of the UCC.”
Carolyn shrugged.
“It’s the first official day of autumn,” she said. “I was going to make homemade cider and listen to the game on the radio.”
Suzy scoffed. “You’re so boring.”
Carolyn shrugged again. “Maybe. I have my fun.” She had every intention of listening to the game and enjoying an autumn evening. At two a.m. Four Times Summers was playing a concert in Taipei, and if she stayed up she’d be able to stream it live on her laptop. Two autumns ago, to the day, was the first time Robert Summers kissed her. She was the only one who’d be celebrating.
(428 words)
1 comment:
I really like how even though she is technically a civilian now, she still does some things like an agent. Like the memorization of the blueprints. I also like how she can smile at the change in the contents of her locker.
The college girls are very convincing. The way the speak and their motions, and the insincerity.
Personally I would prefer Carolyn's form of fun.
The last part was touching. How she remembers, and would be celebrating.
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