The Assassin

Berkeley

Chapter 7

Berkeley

Johnny

I continued to mate on board the Seaward for the remainder of that summer. Royce left for basic training in July. I was planning to register at Berkeley in late August. I didn't even have a way to get there. My parents weren't about to leave Hatteras for any reason. Especially not to take me to a college on the other side of the country.

My high school principal made arrangements for me to fly from Norfolk. I hitched a ride with a friend who would be attending William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Her parents were driving their daughter to college and had offered to drop me off in Norfolk since it was on their way. They would stop at the airport and then continue their trip to Williamsburg. The airport was only ten miles out of their way. I would be left to catch a plane to California.

They waved their good-byes to me at the airport, after dropping me off, and continued on their way. I waited for my flight. I had never even flown. I would be a long ways from Hatteras.

The only things that I took with me to Berkeley were the clothes that I was wearing, a change of clothes, a shaving kit, and the $100 bill that our dad had given me. It was everything that I owned in the world.

It took all day just to get to Berkeley. I was assigned to live in a dorm. It was located at the far north end of the huge campus. I took a bus from the airport.

I was there alone without a single friend. I had in my hand a small bag with my meager belongings. I arrived at Berkeley only two months after Royce reported for basic training in Georgia.

The dorm assignments were posted on the lobby door. I located the room where I would be spending the next four years of my life. I was assigned to live with a roommate whom I had never met. His name was Robert Goodwin. I had no idea what he even looked like.

The school administration had made the room assignment for me since I hadn't requested one. I didn't know anyone else who was attending Berkeley.

I entered the room where I would be staying and saw that there were two single beds. There were dresser drawers at the foot of each of the beds and a small worktable for each of the students who would be living there.

There was no evidence that my new roommate had yet arrived, so I selected the bed farthest from the door. I put my belongings in the dresser drawer at the foot of the bed.

The room was on a long hall with lots of other rooms. We would be sharing a single bathroom with other students who lived on the hall. There was a pay telephone located in the center of the hall.

It was late by the time that I settled down. There was a deli in the basement of the dorm, so I went there and ate pizza for dinner. I planned to get some sleep and see the campus the next day.

A walk around the campus was going to take some time. The campus didn't much resemble the twelve-room school at Hatteras that had served all of the students. I only had twenty-three students in my graduating class. There were more than one hundred on my new dorm floor alone.

It was almost noon Pacific time before I got up the next day. I got started as soon as I was able to get some breakfast. I wanted to get some idea for where my classes and other events would be held. As it turned out, the campus was even larger than I had thought it would be.

There were several square miles to be covered. The walk around it took much longer than I had anticipated. I had never seen anything like it before. It was massive.