|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Yeah, but those coupons add up." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cobb nodded. "In a few years we can have the Veggie Special Chair." He stood up and threw his hand across the desk. "Well, my friend, I'm green with envy." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Expect you'd die of fresh air." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"There's that," Charlie said. "You know, you're leaving me short for the fall schedule with this. It's not the way it's usually done," he said, thinking out loud. "Deliver a paper in April, get bought away in May. Hell, maybe I can scrape up a couple TA replacements. The students will squawk, but it'll save us a few bucks in the long run." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"And you wonder why I'm leaving." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"None of us is here because we want to be," Charlie said. "How does Terry feel about it?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"She's happy for the change," he said. "We're a little apprehensive about Matty leaving his school and friends. But in the long run I think it'll be good for all of us." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Out the window the clouds moved across the quad. More than the honor and money . . . Calvin saw the move as a way to jump-start their marriage. Terry had not been the same since the last miscarriage. After the initial shock, she had slipped into a state of sullen anxiety. She had badly wanted the babyanother boy, tests had revealedand had prepared both the house and her soul for it. They had even picked a name. Because it had happened so late in term, the loss was particularly hardand one that produced a lot of foolish bickering. Worse, its toll was taken of Matty, who apparently dealt with their tension by turning inward, secreting himself in his room or tree house. But it wasn't just Matty's brooding or growing alienation that bothered them. During the last few months he had experienced disturbing fits of angerunexpected outbursts of rage that Calvin was certain had roots in the tension between him and Terry. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As Calvin watched the trolley squeal to a halt below, he made a silent prayer that their new green world would heal them. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Calvin left Charlie Cobb a little before ten and headed for his second class without stopping at his office. At twelve-twenty he was through for the day. Ordinarily he'd go back to the office and grade papers |
|
|
|
|
|