The Outsider Ch. 04

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Ruthie accompanied Mike into the dispatch office, even though in theory she wasn't supposed to be in there. Mike smiled as he handed back his machine and about 50 unused envelopes to the dispatcher.

"I let you down. I only wrote 352 tickets."

"Hun, you are such a slacker. What are we gonna do with you?"

"So, what's the record? For a single shift? "

Mike's co-worker looked at her computer for a moment.

"218. That was four years ago."

"That's it?"

"That's it hun, 218. Congratulations. You're the new big thing; you're the one they'll be chasing now."

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With that, Mike and Ruthie headed back to the dorm cafeteria to have dinner. Her self-confidence improved dramatically, because for the first time she had come across a person in Davenport who hadn't lost interest in talking to her within a few minutes of conversing with her. She also found Mike interesting as a person, because in spite of the nickname she had tagged him with; he really was knowledgeable about a lot of topics. They spent dinner talking about her major of geology and evolution in general. He was not an expert on the matter, but he knew enough to allow her to have an intelligent conversation. She went on about different kinds of rocks, something that would have quickly bored most classmates who were not geologists. However, Mike was genuinely interested. The two students compared notes on their respective majors and then he commented on his dual interest in political science and pharmaceutical studies. By the time they finished, they had been sitting at the table for more than an hour.

After dinner the two students had to go their separate ways. Mike had a meeting to go to and Ruthie had to go to the library. However, they both were happy. Mike finally saw the possibility of having a relationship with someone in Davenport, while Ruthie was elated about simply having had a decent conversation and not having to endure the humiliation of eating alone in the cafeteria.

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Ruthie stayed the entire night in the library basement studying. She followed her normal custom of taking off her clothes as soon as she realized that she was the only person still on that floor. She put away the books she had taken off the shelves in the nude. That night she went clear to the opposite end of the basement, putting herself at risk, because the elevator separated where she was re-shelving books from where she had her backpack and her clothing. Fortunately no one came downstairs that night.

She loved the feeling of the soft breeze from the air-conditioning on her bare skin. For a brief moment she was happy, and danced alone for a few minutes.

However, her good mood did not last long. A loudspeaker broke the silence to announce the library would be closing in 10 minutes, meaning that she would have to return to her dorm room and face her nemesis Shannon. The very thought of that unpleasantness canceled the temporary lift her conversation with Mike had given her earlier.

The hard reality she faced was that in a few hours she'd have to wake up and endure yet another dreary day of serving coffee and going to class.