That Summer

Sun

Josh was going to Smart Ville Camp. It had a real name, but that's what everyone called it. And, it truly was for smart people

"Okay," he said, putting his final pair of shoes into his suitcase. "Can you tell me the list one more time?"

I picked up the piece of paper beside me. "Notebooks,"I said."Calculator. Laptop. Laptop case. Camera battery."

His fingers moved across the contents of the bag, finding and identifying each item. Check and double-check. With Josh, it was always about being sure.

"Pencils." I continued, "Pens..."

By the time we'd covered that, then finished the main list. Josh seemed pretty much convinced he had everything. Which did not, however, stop him from continuing to circle the room, mumbling to himself. It took a lot of work to be perfect. If you didn't want to break a sweat, there was no point in even bothering.

Josh knew perfect. Unlike most people, for him it wasn't some distant horizon. For Josh, perfect was just over the next hill. And it wasn't a place he would just visit. He was going to live there.

He was the all-state math champ, head of the debate team, holder of the highest GPA in the history of our high school. Student council president three years running. But it wasn't just about academics. Josh was also a vegan and had spent the past summer building houses for Habitat for Humanity.

He always in courage me to stop eating animal products. Always explain to me how cruel it was for human beings to think that animals are food. Me being a vegetarian wasn't enough for him. He wanted more, but I couldn't give it to him.

A lot of people might find this annoying. But not me. He was just what I needed.

I known this since the first day we met. At the library.

I was at the school library, in my freshman year of high school. My English teacher gave the whole class an assignment about Shakespeare book,The Merchant of Venice.

So of course The Merchant of Venice had totally mystified me. I'd spent the entire week struggling with the antiquated language and weird names of the characters, unable to even figure out the most basic aspects of the story.

I had opened my book, staring down at lines of the dialogue.

Nothing, nothing came into my mind.

Lucky for me, Josh was volunteering to clean up the library after school.

He pulled a chair right next to me. "The Merchant of Venice, I reread it last year. What do you know about it?"

I glanced back down at my book, as if somehow, the words there would suddenly form together into something coherent. I could feel Josh looking at me, not unkindly, just waiting for me to contribute.

"I don't..." I said finally, then stopped, the words sticking. I swallowed, then started over. "I don't understand it. Actually."

I was sure, hearing this, he'd shoot me a dirty look, because of all the rumor saying that he's stuck up. But Josh surprised me. "Which part?", he asked putting down my pen.

"Any of it," I said, and when he didn't roll his eyes as I'd been expecting, I added, "I mean, I know there's ducats part and I know there's an plot about Bassanio but the rest . . . I don't know. It's totally confusing."

"Look," he said, picking up my pen."It's not as complicated as you think. The key to really understanding is to start with the prophecy about what's going to happen...see, here..." He started flipping pages in my book, still talking, and pointed out a passage to me. Then he read it aloud, and as his finger moved across the words it was like he changed them, magic, and suddenly they made sense.