Fahrenheit 1600 (Victor Kozol) Read Free

moving a box.
    As his parents’ station wagon pulled out of view,
his mother waving from the passenger seat, a feeling of euphoria overcame
Victor. For the first time in his life he was completely free. He was also no
longer in Duryea. While Wilkes-Barre was not exactly a big city, he didn’t know
every single girl here since grade school. The possibilities were endless.
    Wilkes University wasn’t a big school and it wasn’t
Ivy League, but what it lacked in prestige it made up for in charm and
friendliness. It was the gateway to the professions for many local first
generation college students. Most of the resident students lived in dormitories
converted from the former homes of the industrial magnates who built the town
on the Susquehanna River during the last century. But Victor was even luckier.
He convinced his parents to let him live in an off campus apartment right away;
on the grounds that it would cost the same and would give him more privacy to
study. An advertisement on a campus message board in front of the library was
full of offers from students looking for roommates. There was no housing
shortage in this slowly contracting former coal town.
    Victor had contacted Andy Moyer, whom he met once
over the summer. Andy was a computer science major and conformed to type: Lanky
dark hair cut in a mullet, or perhaps simply allowed to grow that way,
low-effort clothing choices consisting usually of sweat pants, free T-shirts,
and glasses. He was an otherwise attractive young man, but socially awkward and
eager to please the confident young Victor. He also really needed a roommate to
help pay the rent after his former roommate graduated.
    For his part, Victor immediately liked the college
senior’s indifferent approach to house cleaning. The apartment was the standard
undergraduate man cave of pizza boxes, dirty socks, and Led Zeppelin posters,
but Victor knew it would be perfect for his designs and just hoped that Andy
didn’t get in the way. The key would be to get into his new roommates good
graces right from the start. To this end, Victor set up his stereo system in
the living room where Andy could also use it instead of in his room and set
about rolling a joint after stowing away his other possessions. The stereo
blasted “Kashmir.”
    “Oh man, you know, I’m such a big Zeppelin fan.”
Andy said, cracking open a cola and wiping a bit of sweat from his brow after
having helped move exactly two of Victor’s boxes upstairs.
    Victor feigned surprise, took a largish toke on the
joint, stretched luxuriantly and asked, “So, what’s the plan this weekend?”
    “Oh, well, I hadn’t planned much. Maybe have some
guys over to watch the game tomorrow.”
    “So, what, aren’t there any big parties the first
weekend?” Victor’s visions of college life were largely informed by repeat
viewings of “Animal House.” “What about the fraternities and sororities?”
    “Wilkes doesn’t have any. The founder, Dr. Francis,
felt they promote ‘elitism’ and banned them. It’s one of those things about
this place you’ll get used to.” Andy shrugged.
    “So what’s the policy on throwing a party of our
own?” What’s the landlady like?
    A jolt of dread went through Andy at the thought of
Sophie, the building’s owner and formidable custodian, but he didn’t want to
admit to fearing an elderly woman before his younger, but clearly hipper
companion.
    “Oh, she’s pretty cool. I haven’t had any problems
with her.”
    This was true, but largely because Andy did little
else but write computer programs and play Dungeons and Dragons with some other
CS majors at the kitchen table. Andy always had the feeling, though, from the
cold stares Sophie gave him when he met her on the stairs that she wasn’t
someone he’d want to cross.
    Victor’s mind strategized like a chess player when
it came to his own pleasures. He had already come to the conclusion that Andy’s
friend base was not going to make for a good