to say that he would take the job .
The next morning Catherine went to see the principal to tell him that she was going to transfer to a school in Omaha . He was standing behind his desk and before she could speak , he said , “ Congratulations , Catherine , you ’ ve just won a full scholarship to Northwestern University .”
Catherine and her father discussed it thoroughly that night , and in the end it was decided that he would move to Omaha and Catherine would go to Northwestern and live in one of the dormitories on the campus . And so , ten days later , Catherine took her father down to the La Salle Street station to see him off . She was filled with a deep sense of loneliness at his departure , a sadness at saying good-bye to the person she loved the most ; and yet at the same time she was eager for the train to leave , filled with a delicious excitement at the thought that she would be free , living her own life for the first time . She stood on the platform watching the face of her father pressing against the train window for a last look ; a shabbily handsome man who still truly believed that one day he would own the world .
On the way back from the station Catherine remembered something and laughed aloud . To take him to Omaha , to a desperately needed job , her father had booked a Drawing Room .
Matriculation day at Northwestern was filled with an almost unbearable excitement . For Catherine it held a special significance that she could not put into words : It was the key that would unlock the door to all the dreams and nameless ambitions that had burned so fiercely within her for so long . She looked around the huge assembly hall where hundreds of students were lined up to register , and she thought : Someday you ’ ll all know who I am . You ’ ll say , “ I went to school with Catherine Alexander .” She signed up for the maximum number of allowed courses and was assigned to a dormitory . That same morning she found a job working afternoons as a cashier at the Roost , a popular sandwich and malt shop across from the campus . Her salary was fifteen dollars a week , and while it would not afford her any luxuries , it would take care of her school books and basic necessities .
By the middle of her sophomore year Catherine decided that she was probably the only virgin on the entire campus . During the years she was growing up , she had overheard random snatches of conversations as her elders discussed sex . It sounded wonderful , and her strongest fear was that it would be gone by the time she was old enough to enjoy it . Now it looked as though she had been right . At least as far as she was concerned . Sex seemed to be the single topic of conversation at school . It was discussed in the dormitories , in classrooms , in the washrooms and at the Roost . Catherine was shocked by the frankness of the conversations .
“ Jerry is unbelievable . He ’ s like King Kong .” “ Are you talking about his cock or his brain ?” “ He doesn ’ t need a brain , honey . I came six times last night .”