Finding Tom by Simeon Harrar Page A

stopped mid-pace and swiveled to face me. “Now look, there I’ve gone off the path already. Let’s get back to business. My father is a lawyer, as are my two brothers, so you can imagine what I’m expected to study. I don’t give a rip about law, though. Of course, I have never said those words out loud at home, but there isn’t much room to blaze your own trail when your life’s already been mapped out for you. I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful or make it sound like my life is completely miserable or anything. I manage to find ways to keep things interesting.” With that, he broke into his slippery smile again.
    I could only imagine all the things he’d come up with. He was a jokester if ever I’d met one. I expected him to pull a toad out of his pocket at any moment or whip a rabbit out of his straw hat, but instead, he continued. “Well. Not much more to say, really. My mother stays at home and looks after the house. She’s very pleasant. Not nearly as overbearing and demanding as my father. I’m expecting them to return any time now from their visit with some old friends who are also dropping a son off today.”
    Charles didn’t seem to notice how barren my side of the room looked compared to his. He was obviously not the kind of fellow who cared about that sort of thing, for which I was grateful. I had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason his half looked as nice as it did was because of his mother. That made me sad. I wondered what Mother would have said if she’d been there to see me go to university. I have no doubt we would have gone out and purchased a completely new wardrobe and plenty of other odd items she would have deemed necessary. My side clearly lacked a feminine touch.
    When I lay back down and closed my eyes, I soon sensed something hovering over me and looked up to see Charles staring at me. “Well,” he said, “you don’t think I’m going to let you just lie there and sleep the day away without telling me about yourself. That’s bad form. I just bared my soul, and you respond by taking a nap. If I were a more honorable man, I would take offense that.”
    I stared back at him, unsure what to do. I really had no desire to share my life with him, but I realized that he would indeed get it out of me one way or another. “Okay, I’m not much of a talker. I’ll just let you know that right off the bat. I come from Greenwood. It’s a little farming town just a few hours from here. Nobody in my family has ever gone to school here—or anywhere else for that matter. I don’t have any brothers or sisters. It’s just my father and me. He owns a little shop. That’s it. There’s nothing very special.”
    “What about your mother?” He had no tact; he just spouted out whatever came to his mind.
    I stated very clearly, while staring directly at him, “My mother passed away a number of years ago, and that’s all I intend to say on the matter. I’m finished with your little interrogation.”
    Charles was taken aback by my response. I could see that he wasn’t entirely sure what to say, which seemed like a rather unnatural state for him. “I’m very sorry, Tom. I didn’t mean to overstep my bounds. I do have a tendency to get myself into trouble with my big trap. Please don’t take offense. I wasn’t trying to pry. I won’t bring it up again—Scout’s honor.”
    I could tell he was genuinely sorry, but I really didn’t want to talk anymore. It was easier to sit with my old friend misery. I closed my eyes and tried to block him out. I could hear Charles tinkering around the room for a little while, until he obviously grew bored and decided to make his escape from the awkward silence.
    Sometime later, I heard Charles’ voice making its way down the hall toward our room. He opened the door more softly this time, and his parents followed him in. It was obvious that Charles took after his father. They were nearly the same height and shared the same color eyes, but