"We were thinking of taking a trip, Mom," Tim said. "Diana and I."
"Oh," said Kathleen. "That's nice. Where to?"
"To the mountains. In New Hampshire. We want to go to Florida and visit Diana's folks, too, but we can save that for the winter."
"You'll be in school in the winter."
"Or working," Tim said.
"In which case, it will be even harder to get the time off," Kathleen pointed out.
"You get vacations from jobs," Tim said.
"Not part time ones," Kathleen said. "And not when you first started.
"I'm thinking about a full time one, Mom," Tim said. Diana felt alarmed. She knew all of Tim's arguments. She just didn't know where this conversation was going to go.
"Instead of school?"
"Yes. To see what I want to go into first."
"You can always do general college."
"I know, but it's not the real world."
Kathleen smiled. "No, but then the real world often wants college degrees."
"I know, but Mom, I don't want to just get a degree and then wonder what to do. I want to know for sure. Like Quinn."
"It was easier for Quinn," Kathleen admitted. "She knew she wanted to be a nurse when she was still in high school."
"I'm not like that," Tim said, encouraged. "If I had to decide now, I'd say I want to fix cars and play guitar."
"Maybe that is your calling," Kathleen said. "But are you sure?"
"Not entirely, but why spend money on college when it might not turn out to be necessary? And if I work some years, I can save up and pay for it myself."
"We've always saved for your college and we're prepared for it," Kathleen said. "Besides, living expenses are probably more than you are bargaining for. You'll need a car to get to work."
"I could live near work, or take the bus. Or maybe get a motorcycle," Tim said.
"A motorcycle," Kathleen sounded nervous. Tim thought maybe he hadn't mentioned that. But then again, they weren't nervous about Quinn racing stock cars. The least they could do would be to tolerate his motorcycle.
"You can get old cars, cheap, and Tim can fix them," Diana said. Kathleen looked at her. "In Florida," Diana added. "I've seen it often. When they break down, you know, guys, they can fix them," she added, nervously.
Kathleen looked at Tim.
"They must not last as long around here, with the weather," Tim observed. "But we still have old clunkers."
"Speaking of the weather, that's the problem with a motorcycle," Kathleen said.
"I can get a warm jacket," Tim said. "Motorcycles are probably safer in snow than cars."
"That I don't see," Kathleen says. "It looks to me like they'd be worse. Skidding on one of those things would end up worse."
Tim could see that this might be true. "Well, we're way off topic," he said. "The bus is fine. Or an old car. I can handle an old car in the snow. I know everything isn't easy, Mom. Isn't that what life is about? Challenge? All that?"
"Sure," Kathleen said. "Though college is a challenge, too. Keep that in mind."
