“What are you after, Budd?”

“Freedom.”

“What will you do when you have your freedom?”

“I’ll be a philosopher.”

“What do you Need to get it?”

“Nothing. I have it right now.”

“What is freedom?”

“If you have to ask that, you don’t know what it is.”

“You know, we met a nice Native gentleman in the national park. He was selling a book of poetry.”

“Oh, did he self-publish?”

“No, it was just a stack of papers stapled together. How’s your poetry coming along?”

“About the same.”

“Oh, I see. And how’s work?”

“It’s work. Whenever we do a risk assessment on one of our dangerous kids, they ask us who the kid identifies as, a follow, a leader, or an outcast. I smile, they usually say he’s an outcast. I guess I identify with being an outcast too.”

“Oh, I’ve always identified with being a leader. When I was in high school, I could go from clique to clique and fit in anywhere. The same is true for me in my dean job. I’m getting a raise and moving to Northern California. Where are you going, Andy?”

“Nowhere and everywhere.”

“And where is that?”

“Far away from people.”

“How will you live?”

“In a van. I won’t pay taxes. I won’t go to meetings. I won’t talk to anybody. I’ll live in the wild.”

“That’s really immature. What about marriage? What about kids?”

“That’s where I trust in God. If it be his will, it be his will.”

“But you can’t just let God take care of things for you.”

“But I can. Look how good my life has turned out so far.”