"Cornell is big bucks."
"The music was great. Haydn. But her friends were laughing at me.
What's Heidi doing with an airman? They don't see too many airmen at
Cornell. We've been together since we were fifteen--high school."
"Oh, Jesus," the waitress said, "first time's the worst."
"She didn't say anything, but I saw it in her eyes--just like I saw she
was going to be mine when I asked her in the hallway to go roller
skating." Will shook his head. "I didn't even know _how_ to roller
skate. She looked down and then she looked up and her eyes said yes and
then she said, yes. And that was that. Five years ago."
The waitress took a last drag and stubbed out her cigarette. "You want
something to eat?"
"I don't think so."
"You sure? Piece of toast?"
"Well--toast, maybe." Heidi's friends surrounded him. Their faces were
soft and excited, sure of themselves. They wore expensive sweaters and
sports jackets. They seemed to belong to a club where everything was
taken care of.
The waitress set a plate of toast in front of him. He took one bite and
then another. "Tastes good."
"You gotta eat," she said.
"I drank a lot of beer, after. Heidi had to go back to her dorm. I was
on this path near where the car was parked, and I just lay down in the
path. When I woke up, there was a roaring and a weird light in the
trees. It was a power plant or something that fired up in the middle of
the night.
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