In the last few days of spring term 1970, three of us (Carl Gruber, Perry Harris, and I) managed to sign the lease for a townhouse at Southgate Apartments for the following school year, but because of the expense we needed to find a fourth roommate. Perry left before Carl and I did, and he gave us only one order: do not get Terry Carroll for the fourth. We promptly got Terry Carroll for the fourth, but Carl promised he would smooth things over with Perry.

Perry Harris was on the phone.

It was the summer break and I was back in Richland at my parents’ house on South Race Street.

This was the summer of 1970 and I hadn’t had any success in finding a summer job. Well, it was the Nixon economy.

I’m not sure how Perry got my number. Probably we had all exchanged our home numbers so we could call if something came up over the summer. That makes sense.

Anyway Perry was on the phone.

“I tried calling Carl a few times,” he said, ”but I can never reach him.” 

“Yeah, he’s awfully hard to get ahold of in the summer,” I replied. “At least that’s what he told me.” 

Carl worked as a laborer at the quarry where his father was a dispatcher. He worked long hours. Overtime most days. He tended to gain a few pounds over the cooler months, and then he’d work it all off during the summer. I think he’d been doing that since we was sixteen.

Perry demanded, “So did you ever find a fourth roommate?” 

Apparently Carl had never told Perry about Terry.

Which means that he hadn’t smoothed things over.

Well, I guess there was nothing to do but rip the bandaid off— 

“Yeah, we got Terry.” 

Silence.

Crickets.

Not a word from Perry.

“Uh, Perry…” 

“Yeah, I heard you. I thought we agreed not to ask Terry.” 

“Uh, there really was nobody else that we could find at the last minute like that. Carl said he was gonna explain it to you…” 

“Well, he never did. You know I didn’t want Terry.” 

“I know but we didn’t have any choice. Maybe you should talk to Carl.” 

“Maybe I should. Bye.” 

And with that, Perry hung up. He didn’t sound happy.

Still, I was certain that he’d get through to Carl, and Carl would smooth things over before the fall.

Sure he would.