Free Where the Rain Gets In by Adrian White Page B

didn’t
know if this was personal or political – or perhaps it was a little of both –
but Mike was a little less sure of himself. For a few weeks into the new term,
he had the look of someone who was not quite so sure of what he was doing – of
how he came to be studying law in Manchester, or falling for a girl he couldn’t
even begin to understand.
    After these first few weeks, they
settled back into a routine – the library, the gym and, increasingly, the casino
– even if that routine was fuelled by a higher intake of a wide variety of
drugs. Bruno naturally came into his own here, but at the time it seemed no
more excessive than Katie’s studying or Mike’s gambling; in their different
ways, they were each as freakishly singular as the other.
    Mike was generous when it came to
sharing the proceeds from whatever mad scheme might take his fancy.
    “If only you put as much energy into
your studies,” said Katie, but she knew how quickly Mike became bored. It was
as though having got to college – even at so young an age – Mike was only
interested in doing the minimum amount of work necessary. There was always some
new idea, something somebody somewhere had told him, that Mike just had to get
into.
    Katie only ever picked up scraps of
information as to what Mike might be up to. His explanation of the sponsorship
deal for the gym in town, for example, nowhere near explained their membership
of such an exclusive club.
    “Who are they sponsoring?” asked Katie.
“Or who’s sponsoring them – how does it work?”
    “The gym are sponsoring the Law
department,” said Mike.
    “To do what?”
    “To do nothing – to be the Law
department.”
    “But you can’t make deals for the Law
department,” said Katie, “and besides, most of us aren’t even studying law.” As
Bruno had pointed out, most of Mike’s friends were scientists of one form or
another – mathematicians, chemists, medics – as well as a few accountants and
business types.
    “They don’t need to know,” said Mike. “I
gave them a list of twenty names, and in return for that they get an
association with a prestigious University Department. It doesn’t cost them
anything and they can brag about it on their notepaper – or in their ads,
things like that.”
    “But who did you ask if this was okay?”
asked Katie.
    “No one,” said Mike. “I just used some
departmental headed paper.”
    “But what if you’re found out?”
    “I won’t be – how could we be? Plus,”
Mike added, “I didn’t give them our real names.”
    Katie looked at her membership card and
saw that this was true.
    “But that’s fraud,” she said. “Worse –
you’ve included all your friends in the fraud.”
    Mike shrugged.
    “I don’t see anyone complaining,” he
said. “You can give me back your membership, if you that’s what you want, but
it would be a shame.”
    This was true – Katie loved their trips
into town and it was so much more fun than the solitary exercise of her first
term at college. It often got out of hand though, and more than once they’d
been asked either to cool it or to leave. She couldn’t imagine this was what
the gym had hoped for in sponsoring the Law department – certainly not when
Bruno was around.
    “But whoever heard of sponsoring a
University Department?” she asked.
    “Oh,” said Mike, “I think you’ll see a
lot more of that in the future. We got in first, that’s all, and as I say –
it’s costing them nothing.”
    “But what – ”
    “But, but, but,” said Mike. “If we get
found out, we get found out; until then we just enjoy it.”
    On the rare occasion that Mike was open and
frank with Katie, she was left with more questions than she was given answers.
They continued to visit the White Horse on a Saturday night and it became their
thing, the one time on their own together. They might go on to meet the others
at a casino in town, but Katie liked the times she spent alone with Mike.