Machine Dreams

freshmen roomed at Towers, a new high-rise complex on South Campus.
    She paced, restless. How would thay get through the next three days with their father? He would be moving out and Jean would be gone, to visit relatives in Ohio. She’d filed for divorce in mid-August, as soon as Billy and Danner had left for college. Danner had been urging her to go ahead all summer, and Billy wasn’t surprised.
    No sense thinking about it now. She would have to go see Aunt Bess tomorrow, too. Bess wouldn’t even speak to Jean on the street anymore. How could Jean Hampson do such a thing? Put him out when he was nearly sixty, disabled, with nothing but a pension from the Veterans’ Administration. Jean had been over it all with Danner again and again. Nothing in common anymore but children; he’d contributed so little to the household for years; the new house was Jean’s responsibility anyway, since he’d refused to sign the papers. Besides, Jean would say, her voice shaking, she just couldn’t go on.
    Guiltily, Danner was glad she didn’t live in Bellington anymore. She looked at rooftops. Across the street, starting at the top of the hill and running all the way to the bottom, was Fraternity Row. The houses were mostly turreted stone mansions; banners printed with rush slogans hung from the windows. Danner was glad she didn’t have a brother who’d join a fraternity. Then again, if he joined a frat he’d live across the street from her and never fail a test, because they all cheated. Billy would never cheat. He was too stubborn to cheat—or do much of anything he didn’t want to do. How would he manage in college? Required courses for freshmen were mostly big survey courses, one or two hundred students to a class. Danner had made a 3.9 her freshman year, but she’d sat in front rows of the big rooms and taken voluminous notes, then memorized them. She was afraid Billy wouldn’t go through all that just for grades, or answer questions in rooms so full of people.
    “Danner!” He was standing beside the parked Camaro in the street below her, blond and solid, squinting against the sun. “You ready?” He was back behind the wheel by the time she was down the steps.
    Danner got in. “Gee,” she said, pretending to look closely at him, “you’re cute. Are you a college guy?”
    “Not me,” Billy said, comically stoic. He smelled faintly of a men’s cologne, and his skin was evenly golden. He’d let his hair grow during the summer and it hung just below his ears, wavy and fine-textured. Already it receded a little over his broad forehead. His hands on the steering wheel were square and capable, and the car itself was very clean. Blue tassels from his high schoolcap-and-gown ceremony still hung from the radio knob. He opened and slammed his door, then locked it. “Lock your door, my sister.”
    “Why? Are you going to fly all the way to Bellington like a maniac?”
    He leaned toward her and placed one hand on her shoulder. “Look, if you ride with the chief, you side with the chief. I don’t like to lose passengers.”
    She rolled her eyes in pretended exasperation but locked the door as he started the engine. “How was your first week at Towers, and registration? Wasn’t that a zoo?”
    Billy nodded, checking his rearview mirror for a chance to ease into traffic. He found a spot and pulled out, then shifted in his seat, getting ready to thread between lanes and make it to the highway.
    “Do you think you’ll like it here all right?” Danner looked down the hill and saw long lines of cars streaming onto High Street, the main thoroughfare that led downtown.
    He shrugged. “The University is okay, but I just got out of school. If it weren’t for the draft, I wouldn’t be going to college. Not yet.”
    She smiled. “What would you be doing?”
    “Oh, bartending maybe. At some beach town where there’s a lot of girls in the summer and the winters are warm.” He grinned.
    “Billy, keep your deferment while it lasts. Maybe your number in the lottery will be 365.”
    “In December. A little Christmas present from Uncle Sam.” They were in the downtown crush now, and Billy drove slowly. “Did I tell you I got a letter from your old boyfriend? I was surprised. I bet I haven’t seen him since he went over there.”
    “Riley? He wrote to you?” Danner wondered if Riley’s friends stayed in touch with him. Surely they did. “What did he say?”
    “Nothing much. Hello to everyone and jokes about