Nobody paid much attention to me one way or the other.
Weren’t you on any teams?
The chess team.
You went to dances.
No.
Then where did you learn to dance?
I don’t know. I went for a couple of years to dancing school, the Captain said.
Well, what else did you do in high school?
I studied.
In high school?
I was studying to be a chemistry professor.
You should have studied to be a dancer. You were really good last night.
Suddenly Lila knew who he reminded her of. Sidney Shedar.
You’re not much of a ladies’ man, are you?
No, not at all, he said.
This person wasn’t either.
Chemistry’s not so bad if you’re into it, he said. It gets kind of exciting. I and another kid got the key to the school building and sometimes we’d come back at ten or eleven at night and go up to the chemistry laboratory and work on chemistry experiments until dawn.
Sounds weird.
No. Actually it was pretty great.
What did you do?
Adolescent stuff… The secret of life. I was working hard on that.
You should have stuck to dancing, Lila said. That’s the secret of life.
I was sure I was going to find it, studying proteins and genetics and things like that.
Really weird.
Is that what this other person was like? Sidney? Yes, I guess so. He was a real nerd.
Oh, the Captain said. And I remind you of him?
You both talk the same way. He used to ask a lot of questions too. He always had a lot of big ideas.
What was he like?
Nobody liked him very much. He was very smart and he was always trying to tell you about things you weren’t interested in.
What did he talk about?
Who knows! There was just something about him that made everybody mad at him. He didn’t really do anything bad. He just — I don’t know what it was — he just didn’t… He was smart but at the same time he was dumb. And he could never see how dumb he was because he thought he knew everything. Everyone used to call him Sad Sack.
And I remind you of him?
Yes.
If I’m such a nerd why did you dance with me last night? the Captain asked.
You asked me.
I thought you asked me.
Maybe I did, Lila said, I don’t know. You looked different maybe. They all look different at first.
You know Sidney really was smart, Lila said. About two years ago I was sitting at a table in this restaurant and I looked up and there he was, much older and he had glasses on and he was getting bald. He’s a pediatrician now. He’s got four children now. He was really nice. He said, "Hello, Lila," and we talked a long time.
What did he say?
He just wondered how I was and everything, and was I married and I said, "No, the right one hasn’t come along yet," and he laughed at that and said, "Someday he will."… You see what I mean? Lila said.
She excused herself and went down to the bathroom. On her way back she had to hang on to things to keep steady. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going anywhere. She sat down again next to the Captain and he asked, How long have you known Richard Rigel?
Since the second grade, she said.
The second grade!
Surprised, huh?
God, I’ll say! I had no idea.
She arranged the blanket neatly and settled back and then looked up in the sky. There was so much light from the city there weren’t any stars at all. It was just all orange and black. Like Halloween.
Whew! the Captain said.
What’s the matter?
I’m just sort of shook, he said. The second grade! That’s just unbelievable!
Why is that unbelievable?
You mean he used to sit behind you and make faces at the teacher and things like that?
No, we were just in the same class. Why does that seem so unbelievable?
I don’t know, the Captain said. He doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would have had a childhood… But I suppose he must have.
We were good friends, Lila said.
You were childhood sweethearts.
No, we were just friends. We’ve always been friends. I don’t see why you’re surprised at that.
Why, out of a whole classroom full of people, would you pick a person like him for a friend?
He came in at the second grade and I was the only one who was nice to him.
The Captain shook his head.
After a while he made a sound like, Tch!
You don’t know him, Lila said. He was very quiet and shy. He used to stutter. Everybody laughed at him.
He sure doesn’t stutter now, the Captain said.
You don’t know him.
So you went all the way through grade school and high school with him?
No, after sixth grade he went to prep school, and I didn’t see him much.
What does his father do?
I don’t know. They were divorced. He lived in New York somewhere. Or, I think, Kingston, maybe. Where we were last night…Well, I guess what’s bothering me, the Captain said, is, if you’ve known him since the second grade and you’re such good friends, why was he so down on you last night?
Richard likes me, Lila said.
No. Not true, the Captain said. That’s what’s getting me. Why was he so rude to you? Why wouldn’t he talk to you last night?