Our First Love by Anthony Lamarr Page B

Or—which he considered more probable—for time to desist and suspend itself again.
    She was here—inside 207 Circle Drive—because she was there the night time stopped in its tracks. She was his first.

CHAPTER 8NIGEL
    L isten to my story. Then listen to Caleb’s story. It will not be the same old story of two brothers sharing one life, because this time the plot will change as we live it. And how this telling ends is not entirely up to me.
    This is our story.
    This will be our life.
----
    For almost everyone I knew, starting a new job was an uplifting experience, but for me, it was a tense, unsettling time. Having to learn and perform new and different tasks wasn’t part of my dilemma. I was a fast learner and I was confident in my skills and ability. The real problem with my new job was all the new characters, different settings, and unforeseen plot twists that would be brought into our story. Everything about our life was about to change. Everything. Except for the way we lived it.
----
    I earned my bachelor’s degree in journalism and my master’s degree in mass communication from Richmond University within a year of Caleb coming home from the hospital. By then, we were already settled into an amnesic existence where nothing mattered but the moment we were living in. There was no past hanging over our shoulders like leaded duffle bags. No leash around our necks for time to wrench us toward a dubious future. We werereborn each day. I attended class and when I came home, I shared my day with Caleb. We studied together and we took turns completing class assignments. Caleb was happy with our life and I wanted things to stay that way. So I decided to stay in college and work toward a doctor of philosophy degree. Eighteen months later, I earned my Ph.D. in mass communication. That’s when Caleb persuaded me to get my first job. He liked our lives as students, but he wanted more. He said he was ready for us to grow up.
    â€œWe can’t get stuck here,” he said. “It’s time for us to move on. There is a huge world out there, and we have to find our place in it.”
    A few weeks later, I was hired as a features writer for the Capitol Sentinel. Then we packed the ashen remnants of our world into a U-Haul and relocated to Tallahassee. There, our life started over.
    Our new job meant starting over again. We both knew this. We weren’t moving anywhere, but everything else about our life was going to change. The route we took to work. The people we worked with. The students we taught. The work we did. Our entire day; it was all about to change. Neither one of us expected the change to come easy because it didn’t when we moved here.
----
    â€œButterflies?”
    â€œYeah, butterflies. You may not have been nervous, but I was nervous as hell about teaching our first class. And having to wait in the dark didn’t help any.”
    â€œWhy was it dark?”
    â€œWe couldn’t find the main light switch, so the only light in the lecture hall was the small light on the podium.”
    â€œHow many students does the lecture hall seat?”
    â€œI’d guess about two-hundred.”
    â€œSo, it’s about the size of Leigh Hall at Richmond?”
    â€œYeah. Yeah. SJC’s lecture hall even looks a little bit like Leigh Hall.”
    Caleb stared at the ceiling as I described what little I could see in the lecture hall and the anxiety I felt waiting for our first class of students to enter. His eyes were doused by a shimmering light that infused him into the picture I’d sketched for him. As I recounted waiting on students, in his mind, he was standing beside me at the podium inside SJC’s lecture hall. We were both counting down the minutes. I was a nervous wreck. The smile on Caleb’s face made finding the light switch totally unnecessary.
    â€œThen…?”
    â€œThe double doors at the back opened and four students walked in. I