School Days by Jonathan Galassi

Author:Jonathan Galassi [Galassi, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

LYING IN BED later, Sam asked himself if Theo could really have done what Ron had accused him of. It didn’t jibe with his idea of Theo, who was always so caustic and cynical, and at the same time so attentive—if detached.

And what was Ron so envious of? That Theo could have been supportive of Sam at the same time he was taking advantage of a troubled, nerdy kid? Sam found himself wondering if maybe Ron had unconsciously—or even knowingly—encouraged what he said had happened.

He was doing it again: searching for ways to exculpate Theo—out of loyalty, was it, or because of his visceral dislike of Ron? How was he supposed to feel now about Theo’s brilliance, his wit, his love of learning, his dedication to his students, his encouragement of Sam and so many others, in the light of Ron’s story?

And his life in that cell of an apartment, his aloneness, his endless smoking…

Drifting off—it must have been well after three—he remembered something he’d failed to tell Boris in the run-up to Ron’s visit, a story he’d heard from his colleague Tom Hargitai. Tom had been a year ahead of them in school. He hardly knew Ron, really, but he’d told Sam this:

“One night I’d been up working in Hollister. It was lights out at eleven, but there I was at my desk with a towel stuffed under my door, cramming for a test. And suddenly who do I see but Ron Bryden flying out the door, desperate not to be caught out late. Where was he coming from? The stairwell that led to the south entrance was next to Gibson’s apartment on the fourth floor. My room on the second looked out over the door. Ron must have been at Theo’s for a teacher-student conference that had run late. Gibson was such a stickler for the rules, though, that it didn’t make sense.

“But I remember thinking it might mean something else when I saw Ron again a couple of weeks later rushing out the same door and heading home well after midnight.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.