Chapters (60)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Personae
- I: Early Days
- One. Control
- Two. Doubt
- Three. Fate
- Four. Same
- Five. Fine Arts
- Six. In Loco Parentis
- Seven. Settling
- Eight. Neighbors
- Nine. Prospects
- Ten. The Lucky
- Eleven. Instruction
- Twelve. Same
- Thirteen. This Is a Pipe
- Fourteen. This Is Not a Pipe
- Fifteen. The Reason
- Sixteen. That Person
- Seventeen. Predictably
- II: Writing Teacher
- Eighteen. Early Poems
- Nineteen. Motivation
- Twenty. Allegory
- Twenty-One. Grief
- Twenty-Two. A Portrait
- Twenty-Three. Veils
- Twenty-Four. Soft Power
- Twenty-Five. Lists
- Twenty-Six. A Break
- Twenty-Seven. Elsewhere
- Twenty-Eight. Custom
- Twenty-Nine. Parity
- Thirty. Fortune
- III: Volta
- Thirty-One. Images
- Thirty-Two. A Very Interesting Young Man
- Thirty-Three. Letters
- Thirty-Four. We Prefer to See Ourselves Living
- Thirty-Five. Love
- Thirty-Six. The Iceberg
- IV: Your Best Reader
- Thirty-Seven. A Novelist
- Thirty-Eight. In Advance of the Broken Arm
- Thirty-Nine. Their Penultimate Encounter
- Forty. Détente
- Forty-One. Worlds
- Forty-Two. Recognition
- Forty-Three. Persistence
- Forty-Four. And Then
- Forty-Five. Mingling
- Forty-Six. You
- Forty-Seven. Persona
- Forty-Eight. Est et Non
- Forty-Nine. The Author
- Epilogue
- Afterword: The Libertine
- Acknowledgments
- About the Authors
“Omigod, I’m just curious, so sue me! Like, for example, you’re at the mall, and there’s this, like, underage girl, right, and she comes up to you, all sweet and innocent, right, starts talking, and you just let her into your car, just like that! So crazy! But it turns out you’re really nice guys, not molesters or anything.”
“That’s a great story,” Loudermilk says, “but you’re leaving out the part where this fetching young skank asks two strange males for a ride. What about that?”
“Oh, that’s easy. I read the files on all the new students. I knew exactly who you were before I even talked to you. It’s not like I have a death wish.”
Loudermilk makes it known he’d appreciate being let in on what “exactly” Lizzie knows.
“Like, what do I know? Well, I’m so sorry but I know that you nearly flunked out of college but at least three of your professors were willing to swear up and down that you were the best student they ever had. That was kind of intriguing. And you’re a Gemini, emotionally unavailable but always ready for fun. And you write really good poems. Also, you’re totally photogenic but way hotter in person.”
“Thank you,” Loudermilk says. “It’s funny how that’s true.”
They come to a small park, the scene of the introductory BBQ.
“It’s weird, though,” Lizzie is saying, “when I read your file I kind of wanted to, like, get to know you? But you’re actually so different from how I thought you’d be. Anyway!” Lizzie lowers herself onto a swing with a blue plastic seat. She kicks dirt.
“Your parents know you do that?” Loudermilk selects a swing.
“Do what?”
“Read files, sniff out persons of interest, humiliate yourself publicly?”
“Ew! I never humiliated myself! Harry, is he always this rude?”
Harry shrugs.
Lizzie says, “Loudermilk, I know you’re not always this rude! But since you ask, they could probably care less what I do.”
“Pray they care less,” advises Loudermilk.
Harry selects a spot on a nearby jungle gym. He leans back and observes the stars.
“Your folks always lived here?” Loudermilk wants to know.
“Us?” Lizzie asks. “I have, mostly. I was born here. My dad actually was married before, when he, um, started teaching? He has two other kids. We’re not really that close—I mean, to his other family. My mom’s sixteen years younger. She was his student.”
“But now your mom teaches?”
“She sure does.” It’s hard to see Lizzie in the dark, though it sounds like she is frowning. “I mean, you probably already knew that.” She laughs.
Loudermilk sits up a little straighter. “I just meant, I didn’t know about the whole story, you know?”
“Oh, right, you mean about their marriage and everything! Because I was about to say.”
“Totally.”