In a little while, the Tollefson boy’s going to get into the 1)chevy with his mother. And they’re going to pick up his aunt Mary and grandma and his GREat uncle Senator Kay Torvellts. And all of them are going to drive into St. Cloud where he is to register for the fall term at St. Cloud State University ----the whole 2)motley 3)bunch of them.
“Why? Why? It’s just registration,” he’s told his mother. “It’s like getting a driver’s license. It takes about ten minutes. Why do we have to take everybody with us?”
She says, “Because they’re proud of you. They want to be there.”
“Oh,” he says. “Why don’t you just take them and leave me at home?”
“Oh no, Johnny,” she says. “You’re the one who’s getting registered for college.”
He thinks about the Flambeauxs as they drive into St. Cloud, him in the front seat 4)squeezed in between grandma and his mother driving, his Uncle Senator Torvolts in the back seat with Aunt Mary. All the windows are rolled up, because grandma can’t stand 5)drafts. And they’re all talking at the same time and saying dumb things.
Aunt Mary reads 6)billboards out loud. You already know what they’re saying but she reads them even down the highway. And there in front of them is a house being carried on a 7)flatbed truck down the highway, and they get up behind it and Aunt Mary says, “Well, look at that, Johnny! There’s a house on the highway. Ain’t that a 8)deal!”
“Look at them, horses over there, Johnny! My! What a whole bunch of them!”
“Ah, it’s a warm day today, isn’t it, Johnny?”
And his GREat uncle in the back seat! Whoever had a great uncle whose first name was Senator? How to explain to people that his mother just named him Senator because she felt it was a good name?
And he’s sitting in the back seat and he’s talking a mile a minute even though everybody else is talking. He’s saying, “Oh, what a wonderful day it is today, Johnny! Ahh, boy, you’re going to remember this day the rest of your life. Oh, the sun is shinning! Oh, God is good, Johnny.”
Finally they come up towards the campus and he’s 9)crouching lower and lower in the front seat, 10)ducking his head and putting his hand up to his face. What if somebody sees him with this bunch?
Around and round they go, looking for a parking space. Up one street down the other around the block three, four times and finally his mother says, “Oh 11)gracious! I don’t know what to do. Should I park downtown and walk or should I double park or...”
Johnny said, “No!” He said, “Just stop here.” He said, “I’ll run in and it will only take me a couple of minutes. You all stay in the car.”
And he jumps out of the car right over his grandma and runs as fast as he can go up the walk and into the building. Poor child. He really wants them to run after and catch up with him, but they won’t today. Some day they will.
Meanwhile they sit there in the car, Aunt Mary and Senator K in the back seat and Momma and grandma in the front. And Senator is saying, “Ah, it’s a wonderful day! He’s a good boy. He’s going to do well. I’m proud I was here to see it!”
