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each other. It was what she liked to write about, and think about, and be involved with.
    And later that week, she sought out one of her favorite teachers and asked him what he thought about UC Berkeley.
    “I think it’s one of the best schools in the country. Why?” He looked directly at her and she hesitated, but only for a moment.
    “I’m trying to decide if I should go there.”
    “The news from Radcliffe wasn’t what you hoped?” He knew how badly she had wanted to go there, how much she had counted on it, and why, and he was prepared to be disappointed for her if she hadn’t been accepted.
    “They turned me down. Stanford too. Everyone else accepted.” She told him what the other choices were and without hesitation he advised her to go to Berkeley. He was from the North himself and he strongly believed in diversifying one’s experience. He thought kids from the west should go east, eastern kids should go out west for a year or two, and kids from the South should head north, to see something different.
    “I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute, Pax. Grab the chance while you can, and don’t give Radcliffe another thought. You can always go there for graduate school. To hell with it for now, go west.” He smiled at her. “You’re gonna love it.” And as she listened to him, she could feel her whole body fill with excitement. Maybe Queenie had been right after all. Maybe this was the answer.
    She didn’t say anything to her mother for several days, and at the end of the week, she sent her acceptance off, and on Friday night when she had dinner with them, she told them.
    “I sent my acceptance off today,” she said quietly, waiting for the storm she knew would come.
    “Good girl.” Her brother was quick to offer praise. She had done as they had told her to, finally. She wasn’t as difficult as their mother said after all. “Are you proud of yourself, Pax? You should be.” She smiled at the lavish praise, knowing what was coming.
    “Yes, I am, as a matter of fact. I thought about it a lot, and I think I made the right decision. I know I did, in fact.”
    Her mother looked at her cautiously, afraid to say too much. “I’m glad things worked out this way, Paxton,” she said sparingly.
    “So am I,” Paxton answered.
    “A lot of nice girls go to Sweet Briar, Paxton. It is a wonderful school,” her brother said happily as Paxton looked quietly at both of them.
    “Yes, it is,” she agreed, “but I’m not going there.” For a moment, everything stopped in the dining room. This was not what anyone had expected. “I’m going to the University of California at Berkeley.”
    For an instant, they were both stunned into silence and then her brother sat back in his chair and threw his napkin on the table. “Now what made you do a damn fool thing like that?” Queenie left the room with a smile, to replenish the platter of roast beef.
    “I spoke to my senior adviser about it, and a couple of my teachers. They think it’s an excellent school and a good choice for me, since I didn’t get into Radcliffe.”
    “But California?” her mother said despairingly. “Why in God’s name would anyone go there? Why would you want to go all the way out there?” But they all knew why, whether or not they wanted to admit it. Paxton wanted to get away from them. She had been unhappy at home since her father had died, and they had done very little to change that. Her mother and brother had pursued their own lives, with only occasional attempts to force her to join them, whether she enjoyed what they were doing or not. She was expected to “fit” into their lifestyle, whether it suited her or not. To them, that just wasn’t important. And now she wanted her own life, she wanted to follow her own destiny. And for the moment that path was leading her to California.
    “This is something I feel I have to do,” she said quietly, the piercing green eyes looking deep into her mother’s. She wasn’t arguing with