New Year's Eve 1968: Bill, Scene 6 "In Need of a Helping Hand"

Bill was shaken. He'd never seen Pat anything else but cool, calm and collected. What had happened, he wondered? Then, he realized that her entreaty provided him with just the excuse he needed to split the groupie scene. "Uh, 'scuse me ladies. I've got to attend to a damsel in distress!" he joked half-heartedly.

Soundtrack: Bridge Over Troubled Water---Simon & Garfunkel

Buy a CD of the original album

Grasping Pat firmly by the shoulders, he escorted her rapidly back through the front door from which she had just appeared. Outside, the deep silence of the dark night provided a welcome relief to the raucous singing behind them in the house.

Pat began sobbing audibly. Bill put his arm around her shoulders gently, and leaned down so that he could speak softly into her ear. "Pat! Pat! You OK? Can you tell me what happened?" He wondered: had she been mugged… or… or molested or… worse?

But, she just shook her head slowly from side to side and started walking down the front steps of the porch, her movement pulling Bill along with her.

He decided to let her cry for a while before questioning her again. When they reached the sidewalk, Pat turned left without hesitation, walking toward the main campus. Bill continued along with her, his long arm still draped over her shoulders, which heaved up and down, so that he could feel, as well as hear her sobbing. After a few minutes, though, Bill felt a distinct change in the quality of her crying. Pat's shoulders remained in place, but her entire body quivered, the result of a soundless, stifled sobbing that seemed to be bubbling up from deep within her. Bill feared the worst, but felt at a loss as to what to do or say, so he just walked along, following Pat's lead.

As they walked, Bill's mind wandered and not in a good way. He found himself increasingly anxious: about Pat, certainly, but also about others — his mother, his crazy ex-wife, his neurotic ex-girlfriend, several of his undergrad advisees, Donna — all women, he realized, but also about Jake and Jukie and all those men fighting and dying in Viet Nam, especially his youngest brother and a number of his former students.

So many people in danger, in trouble, needing help! And what could he really do or, in some cases what could he really have done, to help most of them? Nothing. Not a damn thing! Yet, how he wanted to be able to help! To help his mother overcome her insecurities and begin to date again. To help Donna deal with her current problems and understand their root causes. To help his co-ed advisees find their way to adulthood without so much pain arising from parental pressure to marry "well," stormy relationships with men (most of whom their parents would disapprove of), unwanted pregnancies, a raft of female insecurities, and alcohol and drug dependencies, just to name a few of their identified problems.

And, in the past, how he had wanted to help his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend deal with their respective demons, only to be treated by them as if he, himself, were one of their worst demons. What a crazy, fucked up world!

About then, Pat abruptly stopped walking . She looked up into Bill's concerned face and, sucking in her breath, quieted her weeping sufficiently to speak. "Bill. This is where I live; it's the Law School women's dorm, and I'm allowed to have guests, so I... uh... I'd really appreciate it if you... if you could come up and stay with me awhile... uh... I know it's against your rules and all to be alone with a woman student... uhm... especially at night. But... I... I need some company right now... I just couldn't face being alone."

“Goddamn it!” he thought. Who did this to her? And what exactly did he do? Bill squeezed Pat's shoulder and smiled softly. "Hey, of course. I understand. No problem."

But, of course, there was a problem for Bill; accompanying Pat to her room was completely outside his self-imposed and strictly observed non-fraternization policy, and despite the apparently extraordinary and understandable circumstances for doing so, he was paranoid about being seen in this situation. So, as the two of them moved up the front walk toward the building entrance, Bill found himself looking around, apprehensively. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be anyone about outside or in the foyer of the building or on the stairs, as they mounted quickly to the second floor where Pat's room was located.

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Simon and Garfunkel (Buy CDs of their albums)
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New Year's Eve 1968: Bill, Scene 6 "Pat, an Unexpected Turn-on"

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New Year's Eve 1968: Bill, Scene 4 "Bump and Grind"

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New Year's Eve 1968: Pat, Scene 7 "In Need of a Helping Hand"