College Freshmen

Re: Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier

Lucy Stone's oldest child just went away to college and now he's coming home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Lucy is really looking forward to his visit as, of course, she misses him a lot. She feels that of all her children, Toby is the most like her. He will be arriving with a friend so Lucy spends a lot of time cleaning the house and cooking his favorite meal - lasagna. (That's one of my favorites too!)

As it turns out Toby misses dinner - he doesn't arrive home until 1:30AM and he's got three friends with him - one male and two females (oh-oh). They tell Lucy they will sack out on the family room floor instead of his old bedroom, and the next day they get up at 1 in the afternoon. Toby appears in the kitchen with just his boxer shorts on and Lucy emphatically tells him to put more clothes on!

His friends ask what there is to do in town, and they are not happy when Toby informs them there isn't much - not even (gasp!!) a shopping mall. Lucy says this is a small town in the country and that's the way life is there. She reminds Toby that he could go to the big high school pep rally & football game so he can see some of his former friends, and she just winds up embarrassing him in front of his college friends.

Well many years ago I went away to college. I don't remember acting so snooty or arrogant, but I suppose I did anyway. I do recall having a discussion with my mom about a sort-of risqué topic and she probably thought "where is my girl getting all these ideas from?" I remember getting together with my high school friends on our visits home from college. We liked to listen to music and dance and one of my friends said "this is how we dance at MY college!"

Aah, to be a young know-it-all again!