Chapter 24: Admitted Students Day

Admitted Students Day at Princeton was a Saturday in April, and it rained for exactly the first ten minutes.

My mom had traded two shifts and bought a new raincoat for it.

She walked across the lawn beside me with her badge on a lanyard, reading every plaque out loud.

"Founded in 1746," she said. "That's before America."

"I'm trying to be impressed, Mom."

"You're doing great," I said.

Eliot met us at the arch with a paper umbrella in each hand.

He had not slept, I could tell, and he had combed his hair, which he never did.

"Mrs. Frost," he said, and held one out. "Ma'am. It's an honor."

My mom looked him up and down.

"I've been told you owe me a Thanksgiving," she said.

"I'm prepared to owe it."

"I make a casserole that isn't a metaphor."

"I've heard about it. I've been warned."

She took the umbrella, and he went red to the ears, and I decided to let them have it out between themselves.

She gave him her approval by handing him her bag.

We walked the campus for three hours.

We saw a lecture hall with a very good front row.

We saw a library reading room that smelled of old wood.

At the financial aid table, a woman in a cardigan looked at my file.

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