Friday Novel

Alan walked south gingerly along the river Cam out of Cambridge. He felt quite strange, having lived his whole life in Chicago. Alone, in such open space, he felt exposed, almost naked.

No one was in sight, which was even stranger. There was something idyllic about the walk to Grantchester. It made him realize what peace would be like... and that he had never known it.

He was to meet his new mentor at the Orchard Tea Gardens at noon. It was easy enough to find. Grantchester was the smallest place he had ever visited. He was early enough to wander a little. He didn't know most of the names of some famous Cambridge people who used to visit--Ludwig Wittgenstein, Virginia Woolf. He had heard of a couple others--Bertrand Russell the philosopher and Maynard Keynes the economist.

"Eos scias?" came a voice behind him.

"Let's see. 'Do I know them?'" Alan deciphered the Latin. "Yes, a couple. Keynes, Russell."

"Both studied at the school," the man continued. "Wittgenstein was a mentor... when we could get him to show up."

"Who was Wittgenstein?"

"Another philosopher, like Russell. Very moody. Everything you expect of a genius."

They both continued to look at the history of the Orchard on the wall.

"Want some lunch?" the man finally said.

"So your name is Fox, right?" Alan broke the silence.

"Yes," he answered. "Daniel Fox. I attended the school some twenty years ago in the mid-90s."

"And what exactly is the school,"Alan asked, again trying to get a clearer sense of what was being offered him."

...