Episode 1 - Test Pilot

On the campus of a local University in California walks a young man trying to find his way...

“Excuse me. Could you tell me how to find the Campus Housing help desk?”

“Why, you’ve already found it, friend. You see, here at CU, we can help you with anything you need at any table on campus.”

“Great. Well I’m looking for my housing assignment.”

“Your name?”

“Rhett Butler.”

“You’re kidding! Rhett Butler? No way, I’m a huge ‘Gone with the Wind’ fan! Ha, well how do you like that?”

“Ha, yeah. You don’t say. Great. But, really, I just need to know my housing assignment.”

“Well I’ve got your keycard right here. I could tell you what your room number is, but, heh, frankly, you probably don’t give a ‘hoot’. Haha, am I right?”

Rhett thought he was a bit over-proud of that one. 

“Yeah, ha. Haven’t heard that one before.”

Actually, Rhett had heard that before, quite regularly since the doctor first delivered him from the womb. The doctor asked what the boy was to be named, and after she told him, he replied, ‘Gee, ma’am. You must not give a darn what you name your son. Eh heh heh.’ The doctor had had the same over-proud laugh.

Rhett left his stuff in his car until he could find his room assignment. He felt silly walking around without knowing where he was going, but it was the first time he had seen the campus, so he really didn’t mind looking around. He passed by the grass courtyard, seeing more help tables and other students lying on blankets and reading. Rhett wondered what they were reading, since school didn’t start for another week. After passing what was obviously a library, Rhett found a coffee shop, which happened to sell his favorite brand of ice-cream sandwiches. He bought one for a reasonable price and enjoyed it for the remainder of his walk. Finishing it, he threw the wrapper in a trash bin just outside a building that looked to be where he’d be living. Student’s were coming in and out with boxes and small furniture, so as he went in his keycard proved, so far, unnecessary. He walked in and looked around aimlessly. He sort of just stood there until he became just like a sibling who stood in the middle of the lobby, helping no one and getting in the way. The sound of a ping pong table broke this unattractive trance, but as he turned to check it out, he bumped into a student, knocking off his glasses, and dropping his own keycard.  

“Oh, I’m so sorry. You were just sort of standing there. I should have went around you.”

“Whoa. Sorry, buddy. Here are your glasses.”

“Oh, man. Thanks. Can’t walk with ‘em, can’t see without ‘em,” he said, chuckling.

“Right.” Rhett suggested in his own mind that this guy was a dweeb.

“Oh, hey! You have a Blue keycard! Your keycard is blue!”

“Hey. So it is. Wow. Thanks man. You saved my life. I kept using it for all the red doors.”

“No, silly. A blue keycard means your in hall “B”. That’s right over there. That’s where I am.”

“Great.”

“Yeah. It sure is. Hah. Well let me take you there, come on.”

Rhett grabbed his keycard from the dweeb, and said, “Hey thanks, but I’ve got it from here. Besides I have to go do something else first. But thanks. Sorry about you bumping into me.”

Rhett figured it was worth grabbing his bag about this time, and headed out to his car, which was parked closer than he realized, then headed toward hall “B”. Seeing a hallway full of doors, he prepared himself to look stupid scanning every door til his “keycard” opened one of them, since the student at the desk was of no help, despite his impressive self-advertisement. Thankfully, there were names on the door, saving him of this process. He found his room, and plopped his bag on the bed. 

“Hey. What are you doing? That’s my bed.” His roommate was standing on the other side of the room, organizing stuff from his bag on the other bed.

“Oh, my bad. Saw you on the other side there, just kinda assumed...”

“You know what they say about assuming.”

“Yeah, I do.” Rhett then realized that his roommate looked exactly like the dweeb in the hall, though in a different shirt and without the glasses. “Hey, didn’t we just bump into each other about five minutes ago? Did someone else make you drop your glasses, lol?”

“Glasses? Oh yeah, glasses. Sure. Yeah, that’s what happened.”

“Ok. Was that not you in the hall? It’s just that I could have sworn you bumped into me.”

“Oh, yeah. I must have done that. Sorry. When it comes to remembering people’s faces, frankly, I don’t give a crap.”

“Well, I guess we’re roommates. Name’s Rhett.”

“Like Butler? Yeah, ‘Gone with the Wind’, right? So you know what I mean.”

Rhett kinda shrugged his eyes and grabbed his bag. He would have made himself more comfortable, but his roommate was taking up his side of the room organizing his clothes into what seemed like “ripped” and “goes with anything”. He grabbed his computer from his bag, and put it in a case, and, before heading out, thought to ask, “Hey, so, what should I call you?”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well I was kinda hoping when I told you my name, you’d tell me yours, so things wouldn’t get awkward.” 

“Christian.”

“Sweet. Well, my number’s on the desk. I’ll write it down for you. I’m heading out.” 

Rhett wrote his cell phone number down, and put it on the desk that didn’t have any stuff on it. In fact there was absolutely nothing on the side nearest the door. Christian was taking up all the space on what he himself designated “Rhett’s side”. Christian looked at the note and then went back to his “organizing”.

Back at the coffee shop, Rhett sat down with his computer and checked his email. He had a note from his mom that read:

Hey sweetie,

Hope you’re enjoying college. Miss you already. Your brother wants to know if you’ve met any pretty girls yet. Don’t get too distracted over there. Well we all love you. Hope your making lots of friends. Write back whenever you aren’t busy, but don’t feel like you’re obligated. Just enjoy yourself. Take care, honey.

Mom

Rhett smiled, and took a sip of his coffee. He then logged on to his blogging site, but before writing, stopped to ponder. Outside the window he could watch people walk by. He started to turn back to his computer, but saw a girl walking by that absolutely grabbed his attention. He watched her walk up to the coffee shop. She didn’t come in, but only held the door open and stepped in enough to shout to the manager.

“Hey, Tony, I’m headed to the gym. I’ll be back for seven, ok?”

“Don’t forget you’re covering for Luke tonight. Closing.”

“I know. I’ll see you then. Thanks, Tony.”

With that she left, and Rhett watched her through the window as she put her headphones in, and started jogging around the corner. Rhett smiled and began to write. Just as he started he got a text message from Christian. hey. it’s Christian. i think i broke d closet. c u when u get bck. v

Rhett figured the “v” was supposed to be a peace sign. After he finished blogging, he decided to head back to the room. He looked at the clock and saw that he had four hours until the little hand got to the seven. 

When that happened, he figured he’d be up for another cup of coffee and an ice-cream sandwich.