A guy whose name Ken had never learned stuck his head in the door. "Sorensen?"

"Yeah?"

"You’ve got a phone call."

Ken put down the book and went down the hall to the pay phone. It was Judy again -- he’d expected it – and she was in tears again, which had become all too usual. "Can we go somewhere? Anywhere?" she pleaded.

Oh, good grief, not again! "Sure, I’ll be over in a few minutes," he said.

"I’ll be waiting downstairs," she told him glumly.

Ken went back to his room and closed his book, promising himself to skim his notes over breakfast in the morning. He shook his head; this was getting ridiculous.

The Sunbird had to be parked a long way away from the dorm, and the autumn air was biting as he walked across the campus. Most of the fallen leaves had been raked up, but there were still some to fall. Ken knew he should be looking forward to seeing Judy, but he knew he’d be hearing the latest episode of the same problem, and it made him yearn for the days of getting around Judy’s mother.

Those jerks in the student housing office! It was obvious that they had to prove their incompetence to get hired! Someone of them had completely loused up their promise to find Judy a compatible roommate who could help with the problems of living at Western. Whoever the idiot was had reasoned that someone Judy already knew would be the best bet. Unfortunately, they had chosen Jennifer Savage.

Jennifer could be disarmingly pleasant to anyone she wanted to be nice to, but to most anyone she didn’t need to impress, she could be a monster. Ken and Judy had had plenty of opportunities to witness that over the years. Unfortunately, Jennifer figured Judy wouldn’t be of any help to her social standing and might even harm it. The girls had been at each other’s throats from the first minute they met at the dorm, and the fighting hadn’t let up since.

And, it was obvious to Ken from the first that Judy wasn’t winning. If Judy had thought that she was looked down on at high school for being a cripple, there was no doubt of it with her roommate.

It was still strange for Ken to have to unlock the Sunbird. He’d never had to lock a car at home, even in Willow Lake or Geneva. Here, even an old car like this wasn’t safe, but he hoped that there was extra safety in that the hand controls would confound a potential thief.

It wasn’t far to Judy’s dorm as the crow flew, but the distance between them was filled with one-way streets running the wrong way. Ken had to go far out of his way to drive the few blocks.

If only those jackasses at the student housing office had the least bit of common sense, things could have been worked out, but all Judy had gotten was the runaround. No, we can’t find you another roommate. No, we can’t let you change rooms for the rest of the year. No, you need to learn to deal with other people.

Ken had tried to do what he could to help, but he glumly knew he hadn’t been much help. Those pea brains at the student housing office were doing their best to lose Judy as a student, and Ken had become more and more convinced that she wouldn’t last out the semester. The only question he had in his mind was whether Judy was going to wrap an aluminum crutch around someone’s neck before she left.

About the only hope he could see was to try to buck up Judy to get her to last out the semester, skip the next semester, and pick up after that without losing her grant. There was a problem with that, and he knew it. Judy would go home defeated, and would then give her mother eight months to work on her. She’d never be back, and Ken knew he might never be able to coax her out of the shell her mother would build around her.

Ken pulled up in front of the dorm lobby. Judy was waiting at the door, and came out when she saw the Sunbird drive up. Ken looked; she still had both crutches. Good.

Judy’s eyes were still dripping as she slid into the car. "Let’s just get away from this stinking place," she told him. "I don’t care where. Just away."

"Same thing?"

His fiancée – for she had become that, though there had been no formal announcement – nodded. "Same old thing," she said. "She doesn’t like being seen with a cripple. Doesn’t like to be around one. Thinks they aren’t good enough for people like her. I felt it from her all through school, but I am getting sick and tired of hearing her say it!"

Ken was at a loss for words. For a year and a half, he had tried to build this girl’s ego up to something approaching normal, and now it was being destroyed. He reached for something – anything – to say. "Judy . . . "

"I’m beginning to think my mother was right," the distraught girl interrupted his attempt to speak. "Maybe I can’t handle the problems of looking after myself. Maybe I do need someone to look after me."

Ken bristled. Maybe a counter tantrum would work, for this evening, anyway. "Do you want me to get on your case, too?" he said, letting a little bit of his anger at Jennifer show through. "Keep talking like that and I will. We settled all that long ago."

"Well, it seemed right, then," Judy replied, quieting down a little. "I’m not so sure about now. I keep thinking I ought to go back home."

"Do that, and you’ll lose me, too," Ken replied, angrily. "Not because I want to, or because you want to." He let his voice soften a little and continued, "But you and I both know it’ll happen."

They rode on in silence. Ken drove aimlessly. All of a sudden, he realized he was on the road that would take them back to Willow Lake. Hurriedly, he turned at the first corner, onto a road that couldn’t be recognized as taking them anywhere in particular. Eventually, the road turned into darkened countryside. In a field, Ken could see the floodlights of a big combine, harvesting corn. All of a sudden, he wished he were back home, driving the big new John Deere 8820 Tom had just picked up less than a month before. That thing could go through corn like a mower through grass.

That was no way to think, and Ken knew it. Still, by comparison things had seemed so simple the year before.

The lights of a truck stop loomed ahead. Ken slowed; no, there was a "Miller" sign in the window. All he needed on top of the problems Judy had was for her to freeze up from being around drinking, even the most casual kind. He twisted the handgrip to speed up, and felt Judy snuggle up to him, holding on for dear life, like he was the only hope she had left in the world. Maybe he was. If only there was something he could say, something he could do . . .

"No, don’t think that!" he heard in a whisper from the vicinity of his shoulder.

"Um?" he said, as noncommittally as he could.

"Lori. Lori and Bob."

"Um?" Ken said, a bit more firmly.

"I was just thinking that Lori didn’t like her roommate last year. Well, she found a way out."

"Didn’t solve anything," Ken said. "It created more problems than it solved."

"Yeah," Judy said wistfully, "But she got a roommate she likes a whole lot more."

They drove on silently for a while. Ken finally saw another truck stop looming at the side of the road. He took a closer look: no beer sign. This is as good as any, he thought. Both of them were lost in thought as they went inside; they barely spoke to order Cokes. After a while, Ken mumbled, "It’s too bad people have such dirty minds."

Judy perked up. She could see that an idea was forming in Ken’s mind, but could also see he wasn’t quite ready to let it out, yet. Maybe it needed some development. "What do you mean?"

"It’s too bad that this isn’t our little bay, where it was just you and me."

"That was nice," Judy agreed with him. "That was another world, where the two of us could run around for a whole week, and never wear clothes except when it got cold, and all as innocently as a couple of little kids."

"That’s just what I mean," Ken said. "We lived together there so blissfully. It’s too darn bad we can’t do that here."

"That’s another world," Judy shook her head. "That’s a dream world. Sometimes dreams come true, but don’t count on it."

"Well, I suppose it would be possible to rent a little apartment here in Athens, somewhere, and live on about what we spend on dorm payments."

"People do that here," Judy agreed. "But we can’t. Up on the island, no one knew us, and no one knew what we were doing. If we tried to live together here, no matter how innocently, Jennifer would spread it all over Dohrman County for fun."

Ken looked out the window at a car passing by. It was something to look at. "Yeah," he agreed, "we’d catch it from everyone we know."

Judy nodded, adding, "And we’d deserve it, no matter how innocent we are."

They were silent again. Both of them were still thinking about how sweet their few days together on Isle Royale the previous summer had been. Not three months ago, and things had seemed like they had the world by the tail. Now, there seemed to be no way out of the problem.

Ken shook his head. The problems were so simple, really, but the solutions were so impossible that things seemed hopeless. Well, not hopeless, maybe. "There is one way we could get around that," he said.

"I don’t think so," Judy said, shaking her head. "There’s no way we could cover it up."

"There is," Ken said. "We could go out and rent an apartment. We’ll be home over Thanksgiving. We could have a small family wedding."

Judy opened her mouth, and closed it again, Ken’s last word reverberating in her skull.

When Ken had said he wanted to marry her, it was obviously off in the netherworld somewhere – at least three years in the future. Now, he was talking about doing it right away! "Are you serious?" she asked, thinking he was just trying to pick up her spirits.

"I keep thinking about our week up in the cove, and how I would have liked to continue that. Other than moving way away from here, that’s the only way I can see to pick up where we left off. Besides," he said, taking her hand and squeezing it hard, "I seem to recall we had some unfinished business from up there that we agreed to put off until such an occasion. I’m not sure I can wait three years or whatever it was we didn’t agree on."

"No, Ken, no," she said, wishing she didn’t have to say it. "We can’t afford it."

Ken shook his head. "I think we can," he said. "We’ve got tuition covered, and I think it wouldn’t cost us much more to live together than it costs us to live separately."

"But Ken," she said. "Are you sure you want to marry me? You’re too nice a guy. Maybe you deserve someone who’s whole."

With genuine anger Ken swung around to face her. "You’ve been listening to Jennifer too much. I’m tired of hearing that kind of talk out of you, and I never want to hear it again. I’ve told you any number of times that your legs and your stinking crutches don’t matter to me. Do I have to turn you over my knee and pound it into your head from the bottom?"

"But Ken," she pleaded. "I don’t know that I can come up to your expectations. I don’t know how good a wife I’ll be to you."

"I don’t think I’ll have any room to complain," Ken said, still angry. "Let me be the judge of how good a wife you are. If you’re any better than Carolyn, you pass the test."

Now, it was Judy’s turn to look out the window. In all the time she had spent with Ken, even after their trip the summer before, she never had dreamed this moment would actually come. As far as that went, the whole last year and a half had been out of a dream. Well, there was one way to try it out. "I don’t suppose we can look for apartments tonight," she smiled finally, "But how about tomorrow?"

Judith! Are you pregnant?" Irene snapped.

Judith’s mother’s face looked like it had been slapped. It was not an unexpected reaction to Ken and Judy.

"No, mother," Judy said calmly. "Ken and I have talked it over. We don’t plan to have any children for at least three years, and maybe longer."

"Well, that’s wise of you," Irene said, much more calmly. "As much as I would like to have grandchildren, I don’t think you should have children, and I think you should think about it very carefully before you do." She turned to look at Ken, "I don’t think this idea of you two marrying is very wise . . . "

Judith tried to interrupt. "Mother . . . "

" . . . but I suppose you’ll do what you want to do, anyway. Between you and your father and Ken, you’ve managed to avoid listening to anything I say." Irene stopped for a moment, and smiled before she went on, "And, in the short run, it looks like things have worked out pretty well. Now, I know you have been trying to avoid my advice, but please try and think about how you can cope with being a wife and a mother, because I really do worry that it could be too much for you."

"I will, mother," Judith promised her.

"Judy and I have been talking about getting married for months, now," Ken explained, less afraid of Irene than Judy. "We’ve both given a lot of thought to that. I think she can handle it, and I think she does, too."

"How would you know?" Irene snapped.

"We’ve done a lot of things together in a year and a half," Judith replied. "We both have a better idea of what I can do than I did when we started going together."

Irene sighed again. "Judith, let me say one thing, directly to you: You two are young and full of animal attractions for each other. Do you think you can keep his interest after he’s had to live with you for a while?"

Judith knew her mother had a valid question; it had been a question she had worried about virtually from her second date with Ken. "I don’t know," she said after a long silence. "I mean, Ken knows what my body looks like. We’ve been swimming together at least once a week since our third date." Judy was not about to mention their days at the cove, even now. "He keeps telling me that my legs don’t bother him, but . . . "

"Sooner or later she may believe me," Ken interrupted.

"I don’t know the answer, and I don’t know how to find out other than living with him," Judith continued. "We’d both rather be married to do that."

Irene briefly considered making a proposal that would have shocked her daughter, but decided in an instant, as Judith had, that it wasn’t a good idea. "Well, I still don’t think it’s wise," she said calmly. "But, I’ve learned there’s no stopping you two when you get an idea into your heads. So, for what it’s worth, good luck to you."

"Thank you, Mums," Judith said with a big smile. She and Ken had been dreading a big, knock-down, drag-out fight with her mother, to the point where they’d considered eloping. This didn’t even count as a spat. "Daddy, you’ve been very quiet," she said. "What do you think?"

Norman smiled. He’d been thinking of what he could say to back up the kids. Now, he didn’t have to. "I think you know," he smiled. "I’m at a loss for words to tell you how happy I am for you."

"Judith!"

Judy flinched. That tone of voice from her mother meant trouble. Maybe she wasn’t out of the woods after all. "Yes, Mother?" she said.

"Young lady, have you lost your mind? Do you realize how much there is to do to get ready for a wedding? You’ve picked a date less than four weeks off, and you’re going to manage to be gone most of the time between now and then! You’ve got to choose a wedding dress . . . "

"I was wondering if your wedding dress would fit me," Judy interjected.

" . . . and we haven’t even started on the plans. And invitations! Do you realize . . . "

They barely got out of the house in time to go to the annual Willow Lake Homecoming game.

Willow Lake lost, which was not surprising. The school suffered more than others in its league from having too many farm boys among its students, farm boys who couldn’t rip three months of spare time out of a busy fall farm schedule to play football.

It was a nice change to see Bob and Lori Watson, whom they had not seen in a couple months. The four sat in the stands and cheered the home team on, fruitless though their efforts were. And, besides, there were things to be talked about. "What’s happening with you guys?" Lori wanted to know.

"Oh, one thing and another," Judy smiled. "How would you like to be my matron of honor at our wedding next month?"

Lori blushed and swallowed. "You mean you guys are really going to do it?" Judy nodded, and Lori went on, "Well, congratulations. Look, I’d love to, but I’m showing too much for that already. In another month, I’ll look like a hot air balloon."

"We don’t mind," Ken said.

"Tell you what," Lori responded, wondering to herself if Judy was pregnant, too. "Bob and I will provide the music. We’re beginning to be a pretty good act together."

The crowd groaned. Another Willow Lake pass had been intercepted. The four friends didn’t notice. "What made you and Judith decide to take the plunge?" Lori asked, still curious.

The Sunbird was crammed to the roofline; there was barely enough room for Ken and Judy to sit as they drove back to Athens.

They had gotten lucky in their apartment hunting; the very next day after they had decided to get married, Judy mentioned to a classmate that she was looking for an apartment. "Come and look at mine," the girl had said. "I’m moving in with my boyfriend, and we don’t need two apartments. I’m hardly ever at mine now, anyway."

The apartment was leased until spring, but a sublease could be arranged. The only snag was that while the apartment was furnished, it was barren of many of the essentials of living, from pots and pans to paper products, from pictures to pizzas. A rummage through the attics of three families, (including Tom and Carolyn’s) gave them a good start on fitting things out.

Judy was driving, and for once they hadn’t bothered with the fiction of Ken driving the Sunbird away from her home. They didn’t intend to bother with that fiction ever again. "I still can’t believe your mother," Ken said, shaking his head.

"She caved in so easily I’d almost think she had something up her sleeve," Judy replied. "I think she thinks we’re sleeping together, and she just wants to see it made legal."

"Oh, well, she’s probably not the only one," Ken said. "We know what’s really going on, and that’s what’s important, I guess."

"It does look suspicious," Judy admitted. "I mean, setting a date that quick can’t help but look like it."

Ken smiled. "On the bright side, doesn’t it feel nice to be suspected?"

"Huh?"

"Think back two years," Ken said.

Judy saw when Ken was getting at. Two years ago, she would have never believed that she’d be to this point, and no one else would have, either. Yeah, it felt good. "Oh, well, when there’s no baby this time next year, maybe people will believe us," Judy said, "But I really don’t want to have to go back and put up with Jennifer, even for a month."

"So don’t."

Judy frowned. "What are you thinking?"

"We’ve got all you need here in the car, or at the dorm," he said. "Move in tonight."

"Ken, I couldn’t. I have to stay in the dorm."

"No, you don’t," Ken replied. "Your dorm rent is paid through the end of the semester, true, but that doesn’t mean you have to live in the dorm. After all, the rent is paid on the apartment, too. You can still eat your meals in the dining hall, so you don’t have to cook, even."

"What will Jennifer say? She’ll spread it all over Willow Lake."

"Nuts to Jennifer," Ken said. "We spread it all over Willow Lake ourselves pretty good this weekend. Besides, I called Don Kohler. Our engagement announcement will be in tomorrow’s Post-Gazette, and I’ll continue to live in my dorm, just to keep things on the up and up."

"How will I get to class?"

"You keep the car. I’ll walk when I can’t get in touch with you."

"All right," she said. "Let’s do it. I want to be all the way out of the dorm tonight."

The last load from Judy’s dorm room had her computer printer in it. Ken was carrying it out the door later that evening when Jennifer stormed into the room. "What do you think you’re doing?"

"Leaving," Judy said, bitterly.

Jennifer turned on her heel. "You can’t do that!" she said. "I’m going to tell the housemother."

An immense anger had built up in Judy over the weeks, or she would never have done what she did next. Almost casually, she thrust one crutch between the blonde’s high-heeled feet. Ken turned just in time to see Jennifer thrust out an arm to break her fall, then scream with pain as her arm bent into an unnatural shape.

"You ought to call maintenance, and have someone fix that loose spot in the carpet," he commented dryly as he turned to leave, Judy following closely behind as Jennifer’s moans began to draw attention from other girls living on the floor.

Once the laughter had died down in the car, Ken asked, "Did you plan that?"

"No," Judy smiled. "I really shouldn’t have done that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Do you think I’ll get into trouble?"

"I don’t think so," Ken said. "It’s her word against yours, and you’ve got a witness that she fell off her heels. Then, she’d have to admit that you got one up on her, and that’s one thing she’ll never do."

"Well, I hope you’re right."

"I’m sure I’m right."

"Too bad I didn’t break her leg," Judy said, still bitter. "Then she’d have a taste of what it’s like to live on crutches."

"You might get lucky yet," Ken said. "She might have sprained an ankle."

They worked at unpacking and settling things in until nearly midnight; most of the boxes had been emptied when Ken looked at his watch and said, "Look at the time! And I’ve got an agronomics test tomorrow that I haven’t even cracked a book for." He smiled and continued, "This is going to sound strange, but you’d better run me back to the dorm."

"What’s so strange . . . Oh, I get it," Judy laughed. "Up till now, you’ve always been the one to run me home."

They agreed to meet after classes the next day, and had one last, long, loving kiss in the car before Ken got out and watched its taillights vanish into the evening.

Back in her own parking lot, Judy carefully locked the car and headed to her apartment. Inside, she locked the door and immediately headed off to the bedroom. In minutes, she was pulling on her snug flannel pajamas, and found herself wondering what she would wear to bed with Ken. Though the flannels were comfortable on this chilly October evening, somehow they didn’t seem like they would be appropriate a month in the future.

What was it her mother had said about keeping Ken’s interest? Well, yes, she had worried about that problem. She knew there would be an initial excitement, but would it wear off? It seemed imperative to her that she work hard, right from the beginning, to keep Ken’s interest level up.

She looked in the mirror. No, the flannel pajamas wouldn’t do. Judy smiled, and thought that what she really ought to do was to get some sort of flashy negligee like Jennifer wore every night. No, even naughtier than that; something that even Jennifer wouldn’t dream of wearing in a college dorm. She smiled with excitement at the thought, and of what would happen. Maybe more than one negligee; several different ones, so she could keep life interesting. If Ken were to lose interest in her, Judy determined that it wouldn’t be her fault. If it took working at, she was ready.

In a few minutes, she was snug between the sheets, still excited with her thoughts, and listening to the sounds of traffic outside the window, when the thought struck her with a tinge of panic: she was alone.

In all the years since the accident, she had never been out of speaking distance from someone else. Even out in the fields, on the tractor, the CB radio had always been right at hand. Always, if she had needed some help, someone had been there to help out – but now, there was no one there. She couldn’t even call Ken; the phone wouldn’t be installed until the middle of the week.

Hadn’t her mother always said she would never be able to care for herself? That she’d always need help with the problems of living? What was she going to do if she needed someone to help her?

The wind whistled in the trees outside. It was a lonely, scary sound. The wind was strong enough to blow a street light around, making shadows dance on her wall.

When in doubt, pray, she thought. "Dear God," she said aloud. "Give me strength. I don’t know if I can go through with this."

The wind died down, and somehow a sense of calm came over her. In her faith, she realized she wasn’t alone. What was it Ken had said? That she didn’t have any problems that she couldn’t live around? What was there to be scared of, anyway? The fear that her mother was right?

If her mother was right, maybe all the other things her mother had said were beyond her reach were right, too. If that was the case, then maybe she’d just better move back in with her mother and get babied by her. If that happened, as Ken had said, they’d lose each other, even though they didn’t want to. She didn’t want that.

But, if her mother was wrong – and Judy was sure she had been – then there was nothing to worry about, was there?

Then why worry about it?

She rolled over, put her fears behind her, and went to sleep.