Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

she entered the apartment. Traveller watched the crystals of ice melt in the warmth of the apartment.
“I cooked dinner for you, Lori,” he said with pride as she draped her coat over a kitchen chair.
“Really? It smells like macaroni and cheese,” Lori said.
“Macaroni and cheese, tossed salad and celery sticks with peanut butter,” Traveller said. He fixed her a plate and set it on the table.
“How was your day?” Lori asked as she waited for him to join her.
“Busy. I helped Willy study for my naturalization test.”
“What? Don’t you mean it the other way around?”
“No. I know all the answers, but Willy is taking a government class that covers the same information. I pretend I don’t know the answers and he teaches them to me. Teaching is the best way to learn something.”
“So how is he doing?”
“Fine. He’ll get an A on his final.”
“How do you know that?”
“He’s smart. Once I convince him of that, there will be no stopping my brother.”
Lori suddenly became curious. “So what do you think of our democracy?”
“It seems to me you have more of a bureaucracy than a democracy. So many branches of government, laws, regulations, people to enforce them. On Benwar we established a true democracy. We decided things as a group.”
“You must have had a very small population.”
“Yes. Benwar was an island nation. The total population was less than 25,000.”
“I see. The United States has close to two hundred million people. Only by establishing a republic with a representative government are we able to maintain democratic principles. It simply wouldn’t work to govern by consensus.”
Traveller scooped a spoonful of mac and cheese up. He watched a string of orange cheese as it stretched then broke when he brought the spoon to his mouth. Humming with pleasure, he chewed and swallowed.
“With such a large population don’t people become alienated from one another?”
“Being an American unites us. We believe in certain principles that allow us the freedom of individual choice under the law.”
“Yet the United States is so divided now. I’ve watched the news. Millions were against the Vietnam War while millions were for it. How can you say your country is united?”
“Eventually most citizens turned against involvement in Vietnam forcing the government to agree to a peace treaty with the Vietcong. Sometimes it’s messy, but eventually everything works itself out.”
“On Benwar we would have decided as a whole the merits of the war and how to conduct it. Not one of my people would have agreed to the war unless our island was physically threatened. A political war such as Vietnam would never have been countenanced. Our leaders facilitated consensus, they didn’t dictate.”
“No one ran for office, you had no politicians?”
“Members of the Sanctum Just were chosen by their merits. Anyone unseemly enough to promote themselves would have been shunned. Many served despite their reticence.”
“A world without politicians, that must have been nice. Benwar sounds a lot less complicated than the United States.”
“I love it here, but there is no definite culture or rules to guide people. Many beliefs that one group of people hold conflict with that of another causing turmoil and strife. These differences between people are exploited by your politicians to keep themselves in power.”
“But maybe that’s why you like it here so much, you have the freedom to choose what you want to think, how you want to be.”
“Maybe, I must think on it.”
“So when are you going to take the test?”
“Next Wednesday. I will pass it.”
Lori and Traveller finished eating their food, each lost in their own thoughts. When Lori finished her plate, Traveller got up to clear the table. “I’ll do the dishes,” he said.
“Thank you,” Lori said.
“For what, doing the dishes?”
“No, for being someone who thinks about the world around them. So many people on our planet don’t think at all.”

On the Wednesday that Traveller took his naturalization test, Willy came over in the late afternoon. Willy’s breath preceded him, riding white on the cold winter air. Traveller opened the door at his friend’s approach.
“Hey Willy, what’s happening?”
“What’s up with you? Didjoo pass your test?”
“Of course, I had a great teacher.”
“Way to go, my brother,” Willy said holding his hand out. Taveller took it and pulled his friend to him for a pat on the back.
“You taught me the stuff so well, there’s no way you’re not going to get an “A” on the final.”
“Dat’s right. I even be reading the textbook. With Jesse’s help I have a passing grade in math, too.”

Traveller spent the next three weeks inside Lori’s apartment. While waiting for his citizenship papers, he read Lori’s encyclopedias and watched television. He stayed away from the Idaho State campus. Lori had given him strict instructions to keep to himself until he had documentation.
Willy, Jesse, and Tim came over often. They would play chess, watch T.V., or study. Traveller had shown Willy how to use a dictionary’s sound pronunciation key. Pretending the he needed coaching on enunciation and diction, Traveller had Willy teach him how to pronounce words.
On the second day of finals week, Traveller got up to pace the floor. Willy was to take his government final. It was a Tuesday afternoon, cold, but the sun shone making the snow glisten. Beside himself with worry, Traveller left Lori’s apartment, He walked to the campus passing snow-frosted evergreens. He enjoyed the cold air and being snug and warm in the down coat Dr. Graham had given him.
It was eleven a.m., Willy’s test was scheduled from ten to eleven-thirty. Traveller stood outside the classroom door and waited. He paced back and forth watching one student after another exit the room. Willy finally emerged at eleven-twenty with his head down. He didn’t see Traveller.
“Willy! Willy,” Traveller called.
Willy looked up. When he saw his friend, a smile revealed white even teeth. “Hey, my man!”
“How did you do?”
“Man that test be so easy, I be ashamed I study so hard.”
“That makes it a good day all the way around. My citizenship papers came today. I’m an American.”
“Damn, the first blue American in the country. Let’s celebrate. I’ll buy you lunch, your favorite, bean and cheese burritos.”
“Boni bon bon!”

Chapter 30 - Of Mice and Men

Two weeks later Willy and Traveller walked around the campus checking the grades that were posted on sheets outside each classroom door. When Willy saw the ‘A’ next to his name on the government sheet his eyes widened. “Man, I ain’t never had no A before,” he said.
“Congratulations Bro,” Traveller said.
Next they checked his math grade. Willy had earned a ‘B-’. “Jesse be proud of hisself now,” he said. “Well we be done now. Let’s go.”
“What about your English grade? And weren’t you taking an American Literature class?” Traveller asked.
“Shoot, I afraid to check those even if Lori did help me.”
“You have to see what you got. Don’t you want to know?”
“Come on then.”
They walked across the campus to the English building. Once outside the door to his class, Willy looked at his grade. “C-? I guess that’s not so bad,” he said smiling.
His literature course was in the same building, up the stairs and around the corner. When they got there, Willy’s professor was talking to a student just outside the door.
Willy hung back waiting for him to leave. Travis would have none of it. He walked up to the professor, “Excuse me, I’m Travis. My friend here is shy. He’s in your class and wants to know how he did.”
“Oh yeah. Hi Willy,” he said shaking Traveller’s hand and then Willy’s. “Your basketball coach talked to me about your grade. I’m afraid you started working too late to bring it up to a ‘C’, but you did receive a D+. I told him you can do an extra-credit project. If it’s done well enough, I’ll raise your grade. I gave you an incomplete until I could talk to you about it. What do you think?”
“He’ll do it!” Traveller said.
“What are you his manager? I was asking Willy.”
“Man, if Travis say I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Don’t want him hounding me to hell about it. What I got to do?”
“Excuse me,” the professor said to the student he had been talking to. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow at eight o’clock. You two come into my office.” He ushered them down the hall to the office complex.
The next day the two boys were seated in front of the professor’s desk as he sat in the swivel chair behind. “Have you ever read Steinbeck?” the professor asked Willy.
“No, I only read what I have to. The only book I ever read by myself was Old Yellow.”
The professor laughed, “Well, it’s time we changed that. I’m sure you are familiar with Of Mice and Men. If you are willing to read it and write a paper discussing these questions, I’ll raise your grade to a ‘C’.” He handed Willy a paper.
Willy read the three discussion questions that were on it. The first said, “Discuss the setting and how it affected the character’s view points.” The second stated, “Explain how Steinbeck explores friendship in Of Mice and Men.” The final question was, “Explain what the American Dream means to you. Take three characters from the novel and explain what the American Dream meant to them. How are these dreams similar?”
“Here’s the book. I’ll expect a five hundred word typed essay by the end of Christmas break.”
“Five hundred words! Typed! Man I ain’t never written anything that long,” Willy complained.
“It’ll be fun. I’ll help you Willy. We can read and discuss the book together.”
“Look at it as a learning experience,” the professor said. Steinbeck took his stories from real life. He had a keen understanding of human emotions. He wrote about life and social injustice. The book is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it,” the professor explained. “You have to play ball with me to play ball for ISU.”
“You right Professor Wright. Thanks for the chance,” Willy said with Traveller’s hand on his shoulder.
Once they were outside of the English building, Traveller turned to Willy. “Lori has that book at home. I’ll read it tonight then discuss it with her.”
“Take me longer than a day to read it,” said Willy.
Traveller had taken the book from Willy. “It’s one hundred and eighteen pages. If you read twenty pages a day, it will take six days to read it. We’ll discuss it as you go along. It’ll be fun.”
“Don’t sound so bad when you put it like that,” said Willy.

It was Sunday, six days before Christmas. Lori and Traveller were cooking dinner. A turkey stuffed with oyster dressing roasted in the oven while Traveller peeled the potatoes. He washed them off and put them in the pot to boil. Lori was making broiled brussels sprouts with butter and maple syrup. The Beatle’s Abbey Road was playing in the background. It had become Traveller’s favorite album.
When the red tab on the turkey popped up, Traveller removed it from the oven. He drained the drippings into a pot, added flour and milk along with seasonings. He put the pot on an oven burner then turned the heat on for pan gravy. While it cooked, he added butter and cream to the potatoes and then mashed them. Not until they were just the right consistency did he sprinkle them with parsley. Traveller put a pat of butter on top before placing them back in the oven with the turkey.
He had scheduled