Only——
The reason why Carl did visualize his mother, the reason why the Ericson kitchen became so clear to him that he saw his tired-faced mother reaching up to wind the alarm-clock that stood beside the ball of odd string on the shelf above the water-pail, the reason why he felt caved-in at the stomach, was that he knew he was going to leave Plato, and did not know where in the world he was going.
A time of quick action; of bursting the bonds even of friendship. He walked quietly into Genie Linderbeck's neat room, with its rose-hued comforter on a narrow brass bed, passe-partouted Copley prints, and a small oak table with immaculate green desk-blotter, and said good-by.... His hidden apprehension, the cold, empty feeling of his stomach, the nervous intensity of his motions, told him that he was already on the long trail that leads to fortune and Bowery lodging-houses and death and happiness. Even while he was warning himself that he must not go, that he owed it to his "folks" to apologize and stay, he was stumbling into the bank and drawing out his ninety-two dollars. It seemed a great sum. While waiting for it he did sums on the back of a deposit-slip:
| 92.00 | out of bank | ||
| 2.27 | in pocket | ||
| about .10 | at room | ||
| —————— | |||
| tot. 94.37 | |||
| Owe Tailor | 1.45 | ||
| " Turk | .25 | ||
| To Mpls. | 3.05 | ||
| To Chi. probably 15 to | 18.00 | ||
| . | To N. Y 20 to | 30.00 | |
| To Europe (steerage) | 40.00 | ||
| —————— | —————— | ||
| Total (about) | 92.75 | ——would take me to Europe! |
"Golly! I could go to Europe, to Europe! now, if I wanted to, and have maybe two plunks over, for grub on the railroad. But I'd have to allow something for tips, I guess. Maybe it wouldn't be as much as forty dollars for steerage. Ought to allow——Oh, thunder! I've got enough to make a mighty good start seeing the world, anyway."
On the street a boy was selling extras of the Plato Weekly Times, with the heading:
PRESIDENT CRUSHES STUDENT
REBELLION
Plato Demonstration for Anarchist Handled
Without Gloves