either. She was lucky to have him for a friend—she wasn’t sure she could handle him any other way.
“Hey!” he said. “When did you get here?”
“Just now.” She walked in and looked around Daniel’s new room. He was putting his things away. He had already taped up four gorgeous ecology posters from the Sierra Club, and they did a lot to brighten the dingy beige walls. On the floor was a row of brand-new track lighting waiting to be installed, and he had even brought a large plant. Jay Jay was sitting on the bed reading Playboy.
“Ah, come on, Jay Jay,” Kate said, “are you reading that degrading shit?” She made a grab at his magazine and he pulled it away from her.
“You bet I am,” Jay Jay said.
“Naked women,” Kate said. “Exploitation.”
“I am into voluntary celibacy this year,” Jay Jay said. “I just want to remember what I’m missing.”
“Well, you won’t see anybody who looks like that at this school,” Daniel said.
“Come on,” Kate said. “You’re an ingrate.”
“I think I’m going to join Jay Jay,” Daniel said. “Voluntary celibacy. I want to be a virgin when I get married.”
“You’re about two hundred times too late,” Kate said tartly. She wondered why her tone had come out more hostile than she’d meant it to be. Daniel was her friend, not her lover, and she didn’t care what he did. She looked at him carefully to make sure he wasn’t offended, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t flattered either; he just accepted it as part of the teasing they all gave each other.
“Enough of this filthy, disgusting sex talk,” Daniel said. “Sit down and let’s get to serious business. We need a new player.”
“I know,” Kate said glumly. She sat next to Jay Jay on the bed.
“Maybe we should put up a notice on the bulletin board,” Jay Jay said. “Along with the gay rights meetings and the science club. Wanted: a Mazes and Monsters freak who can play at the third level and promises neither to fink out nor flunk out.”
“I hate to get a stranger,” Kate said. “Who’s going to room with a stranger?”
The other two nodded. The rooms were small; big enough for one person, but apt to be unpleasantly crowded for two. With two beds and two desks and two dressers and two chairs in one of these rooms the occupants would have to pick their way around the furniture or suffer bruised shins. They had decided to keep the bookcases in their game room, but it wouldn’t be much help.
“First let’s get the player and then we’ll worry about living arrangements,” said Daniel. “I spent the whole summer working out the new maze. It is without a doubt the most stupendous, mystifying, horrifying maze ever invented, and what’s in it will blow your mind.”
Kate shivered. She could see it already: the dark tunnels that so terrified her, the creatures that could be friend or foe …
“Is it okay if I put up a notice?” Jay Jay asked.
“Why not?” Daniel said. “Maybe somebody’s bored with the game they’re in and wants to seek new thrills with a new band of adventurers.”
CHAPTER 3
Daniel Goldsmith, of all of them, was the one with the most normal, happiest home life. If anyone was loved and admired by doting parents it was he. He had grown up in the comfortable suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts; his father was a professor of political science at Harvard, in nearby Cambridge, and his mother did art therapy with emotionally disturbed children at Mass General Hospital. It was an intellectual family, where bookshelves were overflowing with all kinds of books, good art hung on the walls, and classical music was always playing. On Friday nights his mother, who took being Jewish seriously, lit the candles before supper and said a prayer, and his father, who was not religious, tolerated it with a sort of wry fondness. Religion meant Family to his mother; the two were one: stability, the most important thing you could believe in. Besides security, his parents
“Hey!” he said. “When did you get here?”
“Just now.” She walked in and looked around Daniel’s new room. He was putting his things away. He had already taped up four gorgeous ecology posters from the Sierra Club, and they did a lot to brighten the dingy beige walls. On the floor was a row of brand-new track lighting waiting to be installed, and he had even brought a large plant. Jay Jay was sitting on the bed reading Playboy.
“Ah, come on, Jay Jay,” Kate said, “are you reading that degrading shit?” She made a grab at his magazine and he pulled it away from her.
“You bet I am,” Jay Jay said.
“Naked women,” Kate said. “Exploitation.”
“I am into voluntary celibacy this year,” Jay Jay said. “I just want to remember what I’m missing.”
“Well, you won’t see anybody who looks like that at this school,” Daniel said.
“Come on,” Kate said. “You’re an ingrate.”
“I think I’m going to join Jay Jay,” Daniel said. “Voluntary celibacy. I want to be a virgin when I get married.”
“You’re about two hundred times too late,” Kate said tartly. She wondered why her tone had come out more hostile than she’d meant it to be. Daniel was her friend, not her lover, and she didn’t care what he did. She looked at him carefully to make sure he wasn’t offended, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t flattered either; he just accepted it as part of the teasing they all gave each other.
“Enough of this filthy, disgusting sex talk,” Daniel said. “Sit down and let’s get to serious business. We need a new player.”
“I know,” Kate said glumly. She sat next to Jay Jay on the bed.
“Maybe we should put up a notice on the bulletin board,” Jay Jay said. “Along with the gay rights meetings and the science club. Wanted: a Mazes and Monsters freak who can play at the third level and promises neither to fink out nor flunk out.”
“I hate to get a stranger,” Kate said. “Who’s going to room with a stranger?”
The other two nodded. The rooms were small; big enough for one person, but apt to be unpleasantly crowded for two. With two beds and two desks and two dressers and two chairs in one of these rooms the occupants would have to pick their way around the furniture or suffer bruised shins. They had decided to keep the bookcases in their game room, but it wouldn’t be much help.
“First let’s get the player and then we’ll worry about living arrangements,” said Daniel. “I spent the whole summer working out the new maze. It is without a doubt the most stupendous, mystifying, horrifying maze ever invented, and what’s in it will blow your mind.”
Kate shivered. She could see it already: the dark tunnels that so terrified her, the creatures that could be friend or foe …
“Is it okay if I put up a notice?” Jay Jay asked.
“Why not?” Daniel said. “Maybe somebody’s bored with the game they’re in and wants to seek new thrills with a new band of adventurers.”
CHAPTER 3
Daniel Goldsmith, of all of them, was the one with the most normal, happiest home life. If anyone was loved and admired by doting parents it was he. He had grown up in the comfortable suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts; his father was a professor of political science at Harvard, in nearby Cambridge, and his mother did art therapy with emotionally disturbed children at Mass General Hospital. It was an intellectual family, where bookshelves were overflowing with all kinds of books, good art hung on the walls, and classical music was always playing. On Friday nights his mother, who took being Jewish seriously, lit the candles before supper and said a prayer, and his father, who was not religious, tolerated it with a sort of wry fondness. Religion meant Family to his mother; the two were one: stability, the most important thing you could believe in. Besides security, his parents
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