A few hours later, Stanford was heading back to his dorm room to put some books away. Suddenly, he was stopped in his tracks by one of the young men he and Fiddleford had seen earlier standing in front of him.

"Hey, you're new here, aren't you? "the young man asked.

Stanford instinctively tried to hide his hands, but it was difficult when he was carrying so many books. "This is my first semester here, yes. "

"My name's Todd." The young man said, holding out a hand.

"Um…" Ford hesitated, looking down at the books he was carrying.

Todd looked Ford in the eye, then down at his fingers that were clasped around the books. "You—you have six fingers?"

Ford could feel himself getting hot. He wished desperately that he could hide his hands. Looking at the floor, he waited for the familiar "Weirdo" or "Freak" comments.

"Whoa, that's cool." Todd said. "Hey, I heard that you were a real science whiz."

"Uh—"Ford was flustered, first that he hadn't been called a freak, and second that this boy knew anything about him. "Well, I dabble in science a bit. "

"I belong to a club that likes to discuss scientific theories. You should join us some time. "

Ford relaxed just a little. Todd seemed nice enough. He thought about what Fiddleford had said earlier, but his friend did have a bit of a worrying streak—with a dash of conspiracy theory.

"Uh—I'll think about it." He finally managed to get out. "I—have to go. "

"Sure." Todd said with a smile. "See you around. "

Ford headed down the hall, not looking back. Todd watched him go.

One of the other young men Ford and Fiddleford had seen earlier came around the corner. "Well, Todd?"

"I think he'll do, Pete. I think he'll do. "


Stan left the office of the third college he'd tried that day.

Aw, man—what if this doesn't work?

Three colleges had been three dead ends. How many were there in New Jersey? Had Stanford even stayed in New Jersey?

Of course he stayed in New Jersey. Ma and Pa couldn't have afforded to send Stanford out of state without that grant…

Stan shook his head to clear it so that the feelings of guilt wouldn't wash over him again. He climbed back into the car and got out his map. Upon opening it, he grabbed a loose paper on which he had been marking off colleges he's been to.

"Lessee—Monmouth, Georgian Court, Drew. Next on the list is—New Jersey Institute of Technology? Well, that sounds like Stanford, but it probably costs the bucks to go there."

He sighed. But how could he skip any? He had to find Stanford—he just had to. He started the car.

"Okay, NJIT, here I come."