In the past, Jay Hougart enjoyed first days, the most important being the first day of the fall semester, but the first day after winter break was also significant. This year, with his arm in a sling, and a nagging cold to boot, Jay was not feeling as chirpy as he knew he could have been. The pain in his shoulder was a constant nag, never going away, and if he took the meds his doctor in Boston prescribed him, he felt loopy and not as sharp as he knew he needed to be. Simple things like opening the door and carrying two things at once took on new perspective. At home, Laura had to cut his food for him. …Read the rest »

Mr. Hougart was almost a relic of the past. When he and his wife had students over to visit, they put out colorful fabric napkins, even if they were just serving ice-cream. They had been at Standish for almost 50 years, during which time Mr. Hougart, known to his peers as Jay, had taught every course in secondary English at one time or another. Eventually he settled on indoctrinating only the first and fourth years. “I am your Alpha and your Omega,” he told freshman who were lucky enough to be placed in his Rhetoric and Composition course. “If you make an A in this course you are automatically guaranteed a spot in the storytelling workshop three years from now. That is a year long course, as this will be. My expectations of you are great, because I expect great things from you.” He was a god of sorts to students, honored summer after summer during alumni reunion weekends. …Read the rest »

By nine thirty most of the alcohol was gone, and everyone had a pretty good buzz. Inhibitions lowered and Elize and Randy whipped up some group enthusiasm for the hot tub. …Read the rest »

Laura made a great meal tonight. Very yummy, super healthy. Check it out on her new blog!!

Around nine o’clock, Randy and Craig turned off the car racing video game they had been playing and checked on the tea in the freezer. They had made it in two big pitchers, a combination of soda, beer, vodka, and frozen Lime-Aid concentrate. Technically they were supposed to add Everclear, but they couldn’t get their hands on any, and Randy said his friends would probably call them pussys, so whatever. Randy had been to parties where they real stuff was served, and he couldn’t tell the difference between this and that. “But I don’t know, because I was usually pretty fucked up at the time,” he told Craig, laughing. They weren’t sure if the two batches were even, but when they tried some, it seemed fine. Randy got a text from Ali that they were on the their way over, so the boys decided they’d kick things off with one of the dark beers that they had debated over mixing into the tea. Music was selected, they found a football game to watch, and Randy went upstairs to change his shirt. …Read the rest »