The headmaster shook each graduate’s hand as we crossed the stage, after which the board chair handed each of us a diploma and posed for a photograph. As my future stepfather and I stood holding the green leather-bound cover between us, I spotted smirks on the faces of my classmates.

Afterward, as the graduating class gathered under the red oak trees on the quad to smoke our celebratory cigars, Arch and Jamie and Vanessa found me.

“We’re going to Chris Presnell’s party,” Arch said. “Why don’t you ride with me?”

“I drove the Jeep,” I said.

“I’ll bring you back to get it later.”

“I think I’d rather drive.”

A flicker of irritation flashed across his face.

“All right,” he said. “Suit yourself.”

“I’ll meet you over there,” I said.

Instead, I drove out to Percy Priest Lake with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and got drunk on the dock by myself. I fell asleep in the back seat of the Jeep, repeating El Brocense’s proverb in my head, over and over. Latet enim veritas, sed nihil pretiosius veritate. Truth is hidden, but nothing is more beautiful than the truth.

The next morning, I awoke with a dry mouth, a splitting headache, and an overwhelming sense of despair. I pictured my mother in bed with Jim Haltom at that very moment; Mrs. Haltom in her bedroom at the great house on the Boulevard, face stained with mascara, her indignation temporarily numbed by chardonnay and Seconal; Jamie flopped on the couch in the pool house, preparing to wake up from a hangover worse than my own; Arch and Vanessa, up early, plotting their illustrious future together over coffee and eggs Benedict on the patio at the country club. I couldn’t bear the thought of facing any of them anytime soon—perhaps ever again.

Driving back from the lake, I looked up and saw the signs for I-40. Call it the curse of my blood, inherited from my mother, perhaps my father as well: when in doubt, run away and begin again. The highway stretching off toward the horizon is always an answer and a possibility. I had a few hundred dollars’ cash, thanks to graduation gifts and the prize money. I didn’t think about whether anyone would come looking for me. I just drove. The tank in the Jeep was near full, so I was able to make it all the way across the North Carolina border before stopping for gas. I bought a cup of coffee and kept going.