The Man Without a Soul by L. Grant Dodge
Sea St. Beach
16  I Go to Pieces in the Universe
Some weeks later I thought it best to inform Janey that I was going to college in the fall.
“Thank God,” she said.
I surprised both of us by bursting into tears.
“Aw, Gus,” she said, taking my hand. “Do you have any idea how old I’ll be by the time you graduate?”
“Who said anything about graduating?”
“You’re not in love with me, are you? Don’t answer that.”
Not that I had an answer, Jake. But great hot tears continued to run down my cheeks, all unbidden.
She didn’t know what to do with me. She stood up and started to pace. She stopped and looked at me for a moment, then shook her head and went back to pacing. She stopped and looked at me again. She paced again. She looked again. This continued for some time.
Finally she sat back down at the kitchen table. “The universe is a strange place, Gus,” she said.
“You mean the whole universe or just this house?”
“I’m serious. I want to know why you’re here.”
“You mean here, in the universe? Or here, in your house?”
She opened a drawer in the kitchen table and pulled out some books and papers. She spread them out on the tabletop, shoving dishes and unopened mail out of the way.
“I mean here,” she said, “in my life.”