yeah, I know.”
“It’ll be good to see them.” Pete seemed to drift off somewhere; he didn’t react to Bennett’s derisive tone. “I’m looking forward to a weekend at home.”
Both Pete and Libby called the orphans’ school home, but Bennett never used the term. He said, the school or where I live, but not home. Someday—when he settled down, got married, maybe had a kid or two—he’d call the place he shared with his family “home.” But he wouldn’t squander a word like that on anything less than a place of his choosing.
“Well, the wedding’s still two weeks away, and we’ve got plenty to do before then . . . including whomping those Beta Theta Pi guys in Sunday’s baseball game!” Bennett squinted one eye at Pete. “Sun’s not quite down. Wanna try a few more throws? Just to make sure you’re good and limbered up for a full game?”
“I’d like to, but I’ve got an assignment I—”
“Never mind.” Bennett drew the words out into a groan, but he grinned while he said it. “I figure you’ll do just fine in the game. In case I don’t see you beforehand, meet us right here in the side yard at one on Sunday. We’ll skunk ’em this time. Night, Pete!”
Bennett took off at a trot toward the men’s dormitory. He hoped a couple of the guys were still lounging in the common room. He wanted to let them know he’d found their team a dandy pitcher.
Pete hop-skipped, adding a little jump on his good leg between steps, down the hallway that led to the classrooms. He needed a few minutes alone with his professor. Pastor Hines always came in early in case one of his students had questions or concerns, so Pete wasn’t worried he’d miss the teacher. But he did want to beat all of the other Bible students to the room.
In the back of his mind, he replayed the scene he’d witnessed when he’d entered the common room of Libby’s dormitory yesterday evening. A group of young ladies sat in a row in front of the window, holding a magazine to catch the light. By their pink cheeks and occasional bursts of laughter, which they quickly muffled with their hands over their mouths, it was obvious something in the magazine had piqued their interest. Their intrigue appeared to go beyond curiosity or entertainment to an embarrassed excitement, which led him to believe whatever they were viewing was not wholesome. He’d seen Bennett and a couple other fellows at the orphans’ school act in the same snickering, flush-faced way when viewing the pages advertising women’s undergarments in the Sears catalog.
When he’d returned to Landry Hall, he’d dug through the basket of magazines their resident director left in the common room for the students’ use. In the very bottom, beneath Harper’s Magazine, Top-Notch Magazine, and three copies of various issues of The Windsor, he’d located a publication that looked similar to the one the girls had been reading. He’d taken it to his room and laid it flat on the bed to read. Between the covers, he’d found what he surmised the girls had seemed so enamored with—a rather risqué story about a young movie starlet and her older, caddish director.
The description of pounding hearts, feverish desires, and furtive meetings in dark corners where the man and woman allowed their lips to explore one another’s mouths left Pete feeling uncomfortable. Twice, while reading, he’d been compelled to glance around the room to be certain no one knew what he was doing. Would he have felt so uneasy if the reading material were wholesome? Surely stories like that could turn young women toward impure thought.
By the time he’d returned the magazine to the basket—once again, clear at the bottom, but upside-down—he believed he’d found the subject for his assignment in Pastor Hines’s class.
Of course, Pastor Hines had to approve it. So before he went any further, he wanted the man’s opinion.
The classroom door stood open, and Pete glimpsed the silver-haired professor seated at his desk. The man’s wire spectacles rested on the end of his nose, and he frowned at a stack of papers. Pete tapped lightly on the doorframe. The man looked up, and a smile immediately cleared the scowl from his face. He removed his glasses with one hand and gestured Pete forward with the other.
“Mr. Leidig.” Pastor Hines pointed to a front-row desk. “Come in and sit.”
Pete limped forward and slid into the seat. He gave his teacher an apologetic