never completely finished

mr ebert was administering a spanish final, it was supposed to be a translation exercise from a book. i started it, but then somehow was distracted, and when i came back, i couldn’t find th pages with th right exercise. i kept leafing through th pages anxiously, but finally everyone was finished and it was time to go. i told mr ebert about losing th pages, he was kind but promised no mercy. i still felt as though finding th lost pages would correct th tragedy and went all around searching. i never did find them, and i ended up with a d in spanish

when i returned to th room i’d taken th exam in – mr richards’ room, it was – there was a bunk bed in th room. rebecca was with me. we took our clothes off and together slid beneath th blankets on th top bunk. but th classroom was not th ideal place to make love, we kept being interrupted. once we were almost at a climax when someone walked in, and we stopped. we never did completely finish

later, i was coming down houghton’s main street at dusk, when a vehicle began swerving across th whole road, badly scared many cars. it stalled, then turned into an alley beside th village-country store. i figured th driver was drunk and i stood around to watch. eventually he drove down a lane directly across th road, it turned out to be a guy driving a lawn mower. i watched him drive down th lane from a meadow across th lane from where johnson house would be. i started walking toward th lane and a dog – collie, i think – came running to play with me. donald joined me, then ran ahead with th dog barking along beside him, both of them having fun. a woman i knew well came to sit beside me as we watched them, felt like parents watching our children at play