He would make sure to wash all the towels. He would find out what brand they were and buy Ahmed new ones. He couldn’t buy new ones. He would apologize. He could taste the faint chlorine in the water and it nearly made him retch but he knew that the only way to feel better was to have some water, and so he took a sip and felt the liquid pass over his ragged throat. He took another sip. He saw the plastic packets of saltines—he wished they were oyster crackers—and tore one of them open with his teeth. When he put the corner of a cracker in his mouth, the flood of saliva was exactly like the one before throwing up, and he heaved hard but kept everything down.

“I can’t eat with you looking at me, Ahmed.” Ahmed stepped down off the chair and sat down at his desk. He turned on the little lamp and began to mark down answers to a math problem set. “Thank you,” Ben said, and Ahmed turned to him and smiled briefly and turned back to his work. Ben looked down at Ahmed’s back, and then took another bite of the cracker and the salt tasted delicious. He finished the cracker and started another one.

*  *  *

When the sun was starting to set, Ben finally felt steady enough to leave his bed and go to the shower. He still hadn’t done any of his work for Monday. The hot water made his head hurt for a minute and then everything seemed to relent, and relief washed through him. Moneylessness couldn’t touch that feeling. He went back to the room hoping he wouldn’t run into anyone.

“I’m going to bring this stuff back to the Dish,” said Ben after he got dressed. “Can I bring you anything?”

“No, thank you.”

“Anything from the Den?”

“I have everything I need.”

“Okay, I’ll see you in a bit.” He paused. “Hey, where were you last night?”

“Oh. I signed out and went to Boston for dinner.”

“Oh.”

“It is not far.”

“Yeah. All right, see you soon.”

“Okay.”

Ben walked out into the clear dusk with the high scraping clouds still lit bright. The lamps along the paths came on, immediately darkening the trees and buildings. Ben’s body felt exhausted and relaxed and full of joy.

*  *  *

That same Saturday night after coming back from town, two Woodruff boys were caught checking in drunk. Jason Bowman managed “I’m in” when he came through the door and made it upstairs. When Mr. Rawlins, the Head of House, went to check on him, he found Jason passed out on his bed with all the lights on.