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room in New York, my mother awakened suddenly in a panic and quickly awoke my father to tell him that they needed to return to the Academy immediately to get me out of the awful place. My parents never came for me though, because my father pointed out in their ensuing conversation that by this late date in the year, it was impossible for them to place me anywhere else. He also assured my mother that everything for me would be fine because, after all, I was a strong and capable boy who would be able to handle any challenge which might come my way. And so instead of returning to Massachusetts to rescue me, my parents simply turned over in their bed and went back to sleep.
    To this day, I don’t fault my folks for sticking to our original plans. Because frankly, how could any of us have known that as I returned to my room that afternoon and unpacked my belongings so I could get myself settled, I was now living in a place which was gripped by a sickness that was easily hidden from the view of the casual observer. In fact, it was years later before I learned that this infirmity is so common, it actually has a name. And so as I became acquainted during the rest of that day with the layout of my new world, I often found myself reflecting on those several minutes I had spent standing in the rain and watching as my parents’ rental car disappeared amid the pine trees in the distance. Every time I recalled this image and relived in my mind the feeling of becoming drenched in my first New England rain, I also would remember how lonely seeing them leave made me feel. Later that night, as I lay between the sheets of my freshly made new bed and closed my eyes so I could drift off to sleep, I was utterly unaware that on this day my parents had left me at an institution which was plagued by what was likely the worst case ever of English Boarding School Disease.

Chapter Two .

Settling In
    The next morning at seven o’clock we were awakened by the first clanging school bell of the year. During the night before, Matt and I had hit it off as friends right away. It was odd but even though we were from different areas of the country, we actually had a lot in common. Like me he was pretty resourceful. Besides the salami and chips, he had actually been able to pick up a Playboy without his aunt noticing while they had been at Logan Field the day before. In those days it was considered extremely taboo for boys our age to be in possession of such material. And physically we were similar. At that time, we both stood at five feet two inches and Matt weighed perhaps ten pounds less than I did then at one hundred and eight pounds. Also, it would be another year or more before either of our voices would begin to drop.
    The rest of the students had returned to the Academy from the James Taylor concert at a little after ten o’clock the night before. When that happened, we learned that another pair of first-year students had been assigned to live in room three next door to us. We hadn’t been able to spend much time with them, though, because by then they were tired and wanted to go to sleep. But we were able to find out at least that both boys, Juan and Carlos, were from Venezuela. Also we discovered that apparently one person per room had been assigned to rooms one and four, and in each case they were older kids. When they entered our hall, Matt and I made a point to be friendly and say hello, but each guy just grunted at us and then went straight into his room and slammed his door shut behind him.
    As we slowly climbed out of our beds during the half-hour period we were given between the wake-up bell and breakfast, we realized that we were both a little weary from the traveling we had done the day before. So it took us a few minutes to get moving that Friday morning. Nevertheless, within the allotted time, we were dressed and standing in front of a seating chart which was hanging on a bulletin board just outside the entrance to the dining room in