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Show 115 could talk again when he came home for Christmas, unless-the bishop spread his elbows on the desk and rested his chin on his clasped hands and gazed at him mildly-unless Lorin was saying in effect that he would refuse the call categorically i f i t came. No, no, he wasn't refusing categorically at a l l , Lorin said, his wool pants itching through the sweat on his legs. He wanted to talk again. Christmas would be perfect. He was so grateful to the bishop for not destroying his parents' peace that his nose t i c k l ed when they stood up to shake hands, and he l e f t the o f f i ce making wild promises to himself that he would not get close to a g i r l who even looked horny between now and Christmas. He would date only Mormon g i r l s for the time being. There were plenty of those at UCLA. He had no excuse based on numbers. Explaining the delay in his mission plans to his parents was harder, and Lorin s t i l l f e l t raw that they couldn't have been a l i t t l e gentler with him that summer, especially in view of the concern he had had for their peace of mind. His mother cried quietly in her sewing room most of the time, and his father found i t convenient not to talk to him except at the dinner table with his sisters and his brother present. The g i r l s wanted to know how come Lorrie wasn't going on his mission l i k e they said he was going t o , and Stephen, who was getting to be a mouthy teenager, kept asking why he wasn't going out with chicks while he was home, was he getting queer or something? It was hard to think of facetious answers with his father staring at him and his mother t r y i ng not to cry, and his digestion quietly deteriorated through July and August, and he l e f t for school a week early hoping to regain some weight before classes started. He turned onto his stomach, wishing he hadn't started thinking about this. He wished Yvonne would move over. He touched her foot with his |
