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“Fermin Delton University”
-Leonard-
Memory of the dark and imposing FDU they had seen last night seemed faded and silly to Leonard now that he and his wife and stepdaughter were back on campus in the bright, clear, dewy morning, with many cars parked in the parking lot, autumn colors turning the trees, and dozens of people—students, faculty, and visitors—walking around campus and filling the scene with life and purpose.
The morning air was clearing his head, and as he walked with the family down the paved pathway, he started to feel nostalgic for his own college days. Back when he had searching eyes and naïve hopes, never imagining he’d lose the first woman he would marry. That his fearlessness of life would die and be buried in her grave, forever.
Essie clutched his arm, and vapor puffed out of their mouths. They savored that perfect fall temperature and docile weather. The smell of leaves.
They started down the main pathway to the center of the campus. Upon their left appeared a gorgeous football stadium, empty at the moment but with enough glamor to it that Leonard almost wished he were in the seats watching a game. He could imagine the FDU Foxes playing here, as he had seen on TV once or twice, with the whole stadium full of screaming fans, some supporting, others opposing, everyone focused on an exciting game instead of their own problems for a brief time.
“You’ve got that look again,” said Essie. She brushed his hand with her thumb, and their eyes met.
Julia was walking ahead of them, finally convinced to wear a jacket, albeit a thin one. Hair was straighter today, but not completely. Leonard couldn’t quite read the expression on her face. Awe? Shock? Uncertainty? Overwhelm? Probably a bit of everything.
Whatever she was feeling, he was excited for her. To get out and experience the world was probably not what she wanted, but it sure was what she needed. He imagined, and wanted to prepare himself for, the maturity that would develop in her through those experiences, much as they had for Maxine.
A magnificent building lay to their right, red bricks and concrete outcroppings and windowsills engraved with Latin phrases that were probably inspiring. School was in a preliminary session, he had heard. It was something unique to FDU. They started a small number of classes early: mandatory for new freshmen, and optional for all others. Often those classes were taught with heavy assistance from undergraduate students—an opportunity for them to prove their knowledge and practice teaching. Leonard thought it an admirable program.
Really, that was the most he knew about FDU. Seeing it here now it felt almost like its own, glorious city, a living monument to mankind’s efforts to push for a better tomorrow. Maybe it was just the lighting. But the construction and upkeep on these buildings, these grounds, even the sidewalks and stairs and railings, was nothing short of the finest quality. Now was his chance to really get to know his daughter’s school and appreciate it.
Down the path and just beyond a line of tall, potted shrubs was the center of FDU. Not the Fermin Center, which was a building; this was a big, circular plaza in the campus’s center which housed a grand, central fountain topped by a life-size bronze statue of a young woman with a dimpled smile dressed in hiking gear, one foot striding up a thick stone, the other down on a mass of mud or dirt. Clear water spilled out of spouts and into the main fountain basin, and students sat on the edge or on nearby benches.
Leonard thought it was one fine, classy sight. Not least because the young woman was gorgeous.
“What’s this?” asked Essie as she approached a plaque posted by the fountain. It read:
dedicated to kelly caylin kennedy
1990 – 2019
forever guiding us to a new age
“That’s the last name of the university president,” Julia remarked.
“Hmm. Maybe she was related to him.” Essie sighed and blinked with soft, compassionate eyes.
Leonard looked up at the statue again. A nice monument for the students here, he thought: a clear-headed, optimistic young woman striding upward, her boots dirtied, towards the sun.
He checked his watch and frowned. “Excuse me,” he said to one of two students sitting on the fountain’s edge. “Which way is the Fermin Center?”
The two girls looked up from their conversation. Bundled up with trendy-looking sweaters sporting strange images of popular adult cartoon and television characters Leonard knew nothing about, they perked up and both gestured to the east. “Right there,” they said, almost in unison.
It was a nearby and more modern-looking building than the others. Leonard nodded to them and said, “Thanks a ton.”
He started moving in that direction, but Julia walked up to the girls, pointing to one of their shirts and gushed, “I love that show. Where did you get that sweater?”
She beamed proudly. “The Fermin Store in the FC. They’ve got everything we need.”
With a soft chuckle, Leonard muttered, “So that’s why the university is bigger than the town.”
That was hyperbole, of course. At least in terms of geography. In terms of population…he didn’t really know for sure.
“Are you getting a tour with your parents?” the other girl asked Julia, scratching her painted fingernails together.
Julia nodded reluctantly. Maybe she saw these two young ladies as potential friends and was worried her parents would scare them away. Or just as likely, she was merely a shy sixteen-year-old.
“That’s awesome!” The girl grinned.
The other girl echoed her smile. “Yeah! My parents loved the tour. And the ceremony at the football stadium!”
She rolled back like her body was feeling an echo of the pleasure this ceremony had apparently brought her.
Julia searched them ignorantly, curiously. “Ceremony?”
They looked at each other with knowing smiles, their postures mirroring one another. “Did you get an invitation to it?” asked the second girl.
Julia looked to Essie and Leo. “I hope so.”
Essie licked her lips. “Um… I’m not sure.”
“Usually it’s only for sophomores, but sometimes there are special exceptions. If you did get one, it’s being hosted tomorrow evening,” said the second girl.
Essie shook her head. “We hadn’t necessarily planned on staying that long, so I doubt it.”
The first girl chuckled. “They’ll invite you to it at some point, sooner or later. You won’t want to miss it. Trust us.”
They got up and walked away together.
Leonard stared after them for a long moment, and then looked back at the statue.
Something didn’t seem to match.
-Julia-
“Why wouldn’t we go to everything? We came all the way here. We might as well,” complained Julia as they neared the Fermin Center building.
Essie was bearing the griping with sighing acceptance. “I need to get back to the dental office soon. And Leonard can’t take many days off from the hospital either.”
“Everyone I know whose parents work in a dentist’s office or a hospital is rich. Probably because they know how to manage their money.”
Leonard turned to her sharply. “Hey! Watch your mouth, Julia.” He stared her frowning face down for several moments before shaking his head and facing forward again. “How is that even relevant? If you’re gonna be sour, at least be sour about something relevant. We’re planning on sending you to a nice university, aren’t we?”
Grimacing, he seemed lost in thoughts for the next several moments. Julia opted to stow away any further complaints. At least verbally.
It’s relevant because if you guys managed your money better, maybe you wouldn’t be so panicked about missing a few workdays once in your lives. Or buying a new Homecoming dress…
She let herself cool off as she pulled out her phone and took more pictures. There were so many great angles here, the buildings so stately.
She didn’t want to be creepy, but she caught a few pictures of students walking on the pathways. Maybe one day she’d meet them and they’d find her picture-taking funny. Like those girls on the fountain. They had reached out to her with such vivaciousness that she felt more alive than she had for a very long time. She wanted more.
Even this little excursion was remarkably energizing. It had been far too long since their last family vacation. Her parents were satisfied by neighborhood pools and parks, but Julia wanted to be somewhere and feel something. She’d lived in that stupid town her entire life.
Maxine was right not to come home, frankly.
Was that the reason she didn’t come home? she wondered.
She couldn’t believe she’d never really thought too hard about why her stepsister hadn’t returned home. But it made too much sense. If Julia were attending this school and had a serious boyfriend, she couldn’t picture herself being all too eager to return home either.
They entered the FC—as those girls had called it—and found themselves in a wonderfully inviting chamber with a massive ceiling revealing three levels up above. Abstract statues and modern decor rounded out the place, and there were clear lines on the floor and signs posted to direct tour groups to the area where the tour was to begin.
Ah, the smell in the air! She couldn’t even say what it was. It was just…new. Exciting and promising and clean. Everything here was colorful and bright. The many people walking around here—just like everywhere else—looked like they were having the time of their lives.
Snap, snap, snap. She couldn’t get enough pictures.
Julia’s parents weren’t close to that level of excitement, but their faces were consumed with looks of awe. They did their husband-wife small talk as they made their way along the path of signage.
-Essie-
“Welcome to Fermin Delton University!
“My name is Jenny. We’re excited to introduce you to our fine establishment of higher learning this beautiful morning. If you’ll please line up here, we can begin the tour.”
The woman was in her mid-late thirties and wore a grand, well-practiced smile. Aggressively disarming, beautiful to look at, and almost impossible to ignore, along with her glitzy eyeliner. She wore a uniform of black slacks and a dark-colored polo shirt. Maxine stood nearby in similar dress at a plastic table with a sterilized gray bin set upon it. “Set all devices here” it read.
The first people in line—the one other family who was here, with mother, father, and two twin teenage boys—went up to Maxine and reluctantly complied.
Essie turned to her husband with an eyebrow raised. “‘Set all devices here’?” she whispered. “Are they kidding?”
He wrinkled his nose. “That’s ridiculous.”
Julia’s smartphone was already out—she’d been taking pictures—so she couldn’t hide it.
When it was their turn, Essie and Leonard leaned in to Maxine over the bin full of four cell phones and Essie whispered, “Maxine, why do we have to give up our phones?”
Maxine looked over to Jenny with some anxiety on her face. Arms held behind her back, Jenny grinned and said in her well-honed and positive voice, “The places we’ll be going during the tour are some of the most technologically-rich places not only on the campus, but in the entire tri-state area. The interference from cellular devices can cause damage both to university equipment and potentially to the cellular devices themselves, which the university cannot be responsible for. All devices must be surrendered temporarily, but they will be returned at the conclusion of the tour.”
Somehow, her smile deepened after she finished speaking.
Leonard scowled and furrowed his brow. Essie kept a straight face, but inside she was stewing with irritation. She hated, hated being subject to bureaucracy. She had chosen her profession partly out of that dislike; with only a single dentist to work under in a single office, there wasn’t much she had to deal with.
She looked back to Maxine. “Really?” she sighed painfully.
Maxine shrugged abashedly. “Sorry, Mom.”
With a nonplussed lick of her lips, Essie pulled out her phone and set it down in the bin. Julia approached with a look on her face that suggested she’d been successfully spooked by Jenny’s insistence that her cell phone might sustain damage if brought on the tour, and she surrendered it after swiftly typing something out.
Next was Leonard. He reached into his coat pocket and his eyes went wide. “Oh, shoot! I forgot mine. Whoops.”
Jenny eyed him with an unchanging expression. “Well, then,” she said after a pause. “Shall we get moving?”
“Yes,” said Essie, ready to put that irritation behind her and finally see what they came here to see.
arcreonis.com 