Page 247 - WhyAsInY

aas in aeGis;Gas in Gnu
Jandy, was the unfortunate victim of one of the more trying adventures that I experienced while attempting to recapture that old college spirit. I had dated Jandy for a while, and both she and I were game to spend February House Party Weekend at Amherst. To be safe and to make it an easier trip back to Poughkeepsie on the Sunday morning following some good reunions and parties, we decided to stay over in Holyoke, Massachusetts (not to be confused with South Hadley, where Mount Holyoke was located), about two and one-half hours from Vas- sar, in good driving conditions. Did I say, “good driving conditions”? Well, that was accurate, but it hardly took into account the possibility of winter weather or the idiosyncrasies of my theretofore semi-trusty
1958 Chevy.
It was not until Monday night that we completed the 120-mile tra-
verse. In quick succession: There was a snowfall of about fourteen inches by Sunday morning; the car had to be towed out; the carburetor or some other part needed to be replaced; the car spun out and ended in the median of the Mass Pike in darkness, again to be towed (after I walked over a mile to get help); we had to stay over in Lee, Massachu- setts; and the next day, when we were finally heading south on the Taconic, the car died in the middle of the ride, and we were towed again, this time forty miles back north to Chatham, New York, where we were ultimately rescued by my cousin Susan, who lived in Pough- keepsie and drove the round-trip to get Jandy back to her dorm—at which time, Jandy inexplicably invited me to the Vassar Spring Prom. (The invitation, I admit, was subsequently withdrawn in a rather ungrateful letter.)
But let us not forget the absolute highlight of the weekend: The Sunday that found us in Lee just happened to have been February 9, 1964, the date upon which the Beatles were introduced to America on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Lee Motel had TV sets in the rooms! That was the best thing about the Lee Motel. Almost tied for best was the way in which the motel operated. When we finally located the motel office, we found it empty. Soon, however, a disembodied voice, coming from a small speaker mounted on the wall behind the desk, addressed us.
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