THE BULLETIN BOARD
Our campus is not a giant, factory-size job with a particle accelerator and a two-hundred-man football squad, but itвs chummy. The chummiest - thing -about it is the bulletin board in Old Main. You may find a stray glove fastened up with a thumbtack, or you can pick up a baby-sitting job if a married veteran doesnвt beat you tO it. Or you can buy a car cheap if you tow it from where it gave up. There are items like: гWill the person who removed a windbreaker from the Library please return same and receive a punch in the nose?д
But the main interest is the next four sections, гATo-G,д гH-To-L,д гM-To-T,д and гU-вro-Z,д for they are what we use in place- of the U.S. Postal гServiceд at enormous saving in postage. Everybody inspects his section before class in the morning. If thereвs nothing for you, at least you can see who dOes get mail and sometimes from whom. Youвll look again at lunch time and before going home. A person with a busy social life will check the board six or seven times.
Mine isnвt that busy but I frequently find a note from Cliff. He knows I like to, so he indulges me. Itвsfun to get mail on the board.
There was a girl I used to run across because we were both in гH-ro-LдчGabrielle Lamont. I would say hello and she would say hello and there it stopped. Gabrielle was a sad oneчnot a total termite, but dampish. Her face had the usual features but she let them live their own lives, not even lipstick. She skinned her hair back and her clothes looked as if they had been bought in France. Not Parisчjust France. Thereвs a difference.
Which they probably were. Her father is in Modern Languages and he sent her three years to school in France. It did something. I donвt think she ever had a date.
We both had eight oвclocks and she would check гH-~ro-Lд every morning when I did and then go quietly away. There was never a note for her.
Until this one morning. . . Georgia Lammers, who is~ purely carnivorous, took a note off the board as Gabrielle came up. I heard this soft little voice say, гExcuse me.
Thatвs mine.д -~
Georgia said, гHuh? Donвt be silly!д
Gabrielle looked scared but she put out her hand. гRead the name, please. Youвve made a mistake.д
Georgia snatched the note away. She is a junior and wouldnвt bother to speak to me if Daddy werenвt on the staffчbut Iвm .not afraid of her. гDo it,д 1 insisted. гLetвs see the name.д
Georgia stuck the envelope in my face and snapped, гRead it yourself, snoopy!д
гGabrielle Lamont,д I read Out loud. гHand it over, Georgia.д
гWhat?д she yelped, and looked at it. Her cheeks got very red.
гHand it over,д I repeated.
гWell!д said Georgia. гAnybody can make a mistake!д She flung the note at Gabrielle and flounced off.
Gabrielle picked it up. гThanks,д she whispered.
гUsual Yellow Cab Service,д I said. гA pleasureдч which it was. Georgia Lammers is popular in a cheap, plunging-neckline way, but not with me. She acts as if she had invented sex.
Gabrielle started getting mail every dayчsome in envelopes, some just with a thumbtack shoved through folds. I wondered who it was; but every time I saw Gabrielle she was alone. I decided it must be someone her father did not like so they had to use notes to arrange secret dates. I told Cliff so, but he said I had an uncontrolled romantic imagination. -
Gabrielle got eleven notes that week and -I got only four, all from Cliff. I pointed this out and he said I did not appreciate my blessings and he was going to ration me to three a week. Men are exasperating.
I came up one morning as Gabriehle was taking down a note; this time Georgia Lammers was there. As Gabrielle left I said sweetly, гNothing for you, Georgia? Too bad. Or was it Gabrielleвs turn to swipe your note?д -
Georgia sniffed and went into the Registrarвs office, where she is a part-time clerk. I thought no more about it until after five, when I was waiting in Old Main for Daddy, intending to ride home with him.
There was nothing on гH-To-Lд for me, or for Gabrielle, or Georgia. Nobody was around so I sat down on the Senior Bench and rested my feet.
I jumped when I heard someone behind me, but it was only Gabrielle. Sheвs a freshman, too, and anyhow she wouldnвt tell. But I didnвt sit down againчour senior committee thinks up fantastic punishments for ignoring their sacred privileges.
A good thing I didnвtчGeorgia came out Of the office then. But she did not notice me; -she went straight- to гH-To-Lд and unpinned a note. I thought: Maureen, your memory is slipping; there was nothing for her a minute ago.
Georgia turned and saw me. She flushed and said, гWhat are you staring at?д
гSorry,д I said. гI didnвt think there was a note for youчI just looked at the board.д
She started to flare up, then she put on a catty smile. гWant to read it?д
гHeavens, no!д
гGo ahead!д She shoved it at me. гItвs very interesting.д
Puzzled, I took it. It was -a blank sheet, nothing but creases and thumbtack holes. гSomebody is playing jokes on you,д I said.
гNot on me.д
I turned it over. The address read: гMiss Gabrielle Lamont.д
It finally soaked in that the address should have been гGeorgia Lammers.д Or should have been for Georgia to touch it. I said, гThis note isnвt yours. You have no right to it~д
гWhat note?д гThis note.д
гI donвt see any note. I see a blank sheet of paper.д
гButч Look, you thought it was a note to Gabrielle. And you took it down anyway.д
Her smile got nastier. гNo, I knew it wasnвt a note. Thatвs the point.д
гHuh?д -
She explained and I wanted to scratch her. Poor little Gabrielle had been sending notes to herself, just to get mail when everybody else didчand Georgia had caught on. Both girls had campus jobs which kept them late; Georgia had seen Gabrielle come in late a week earlier, look around, and pin up a note. Being a sneak, she had ducked out to find out to whom Gabrielle was writingч only to find that it was addressed to Gabrielle herself.
Poor Gabby! No wondЌr I had never seen her with anyone. There wasnвt anyone.
