To Wear the Norwich Ring

To Wear the Norwich Ring

Winner of The Cowdrey Award, 2011

1st place for prose in the Chameleon literary anthology, 2011 

First published in the Norwich Chameleon

This short story was inspired by my years in the Corps of Cadets at Norwich University.  I do wear the ring, and in two days, so will the class of 2013.  Enjoy the story!

Cadet Private Zeke Skriminy did not realize his life was in danger when he awoke on a wintery Norwich day.  It started off like any other morning for Zeke, waking up at ten o’ clock.  No, Zeke did not attend formations: in fact, he was pretty sure the last time he saluted the American flag was two years ago, as a sophomore.  Physical training for him occurred less than once a week.  Zeke was grossly overweight.  He had bought two new pairs of ACUs recently, when his stomach began to bulge out of his old uniforms.  This year, ACUs were the most formal uniform he wore around campus.

Now Zeke groaned at the sound of cadets yelling outside his room.  He slipped into his PT gear to go down to the mess hall.  His first class of the day had already passed, but after breakfast he would go to math and sleep on his desk.  He trudged down the stairs from the fourth deck of Patterson Hall, yawning and scratching his unshaven chin.  He stepped outside the barracks and shivered as the cold hit his pudgy body.  He began walking downstairs towards the mess hall.  Cadets in ACUs with gortex jackets walked by, as well as civilians, all bundled up.

            “Hey, Skriminy!” a girl called out. 

            Zeke put a shrewd grin on his face and waved down to a pretty brunette civilian girl.  “What’s up, Marisa?”

            “Did you do the math homework?” she asked cheerfully.

            Zeke sniggered.  “Are you kidding?  I haven’tdone any homework this whole year… and I haven’t failed out yet.”

            Marisa appeared impressed.  “I’ve never seen someone do so little and do so well.”

            Zeke nodded and smoothly pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up.  “If the teacher didn’t take role, I wouldn’t even go to math.  I’m taking over my family’s business next year.”

            “Why do you even come to Norwich?” Marisa questioned.

            “My parents’ condition to get the family business.  Had to go to college,” Zeke told her.

            Marisa’s eyes widened.  “Watch out behind you… it’s your least favorite person.”

            The cadet colonel was approaching.  “Skriminy!” she barked.  Marisa hurried away.  Zeke stomped out his cigarette on the snowy ground and watched Marisa’s back as she retreated.  The colonel snapped her fingers angrily.  “Skriminy, I’ve emailed you five times in the last week.  Didn’t you get any of my emails?” the colonel demanded.

            Zeke shrugged.  “I don’t check my Norwich email account.”

            “If you had, you’d know that you have marching tours,” she snapped.  “I’m through with  yournegative attitude!  Your platoon sergeant has been complaining about you for months.  Just because I’m your rook sister doesn’t mean I won’t prevent you from getting your degree from the Military College of Vermont.  I’m telling you as your rook buddy to get your act together.”

            “Yeah, sure,” Zeke replied, looking at the cloudy sky.  “Good day… colonel.”

            The colonel glared after him as he walked down to breakfast.  She was sure that he had cheated in multiple ways to attain his junior ring, but nothing could be proven. 

            In the mess hall, Zeke slopped a large chunk of scrambled egg on a plate.  He went and sat with several other seniors.  They were talking about commissioning and graduating, but he was not really listening.  Marisa was on his mind: the way she walked in her tight-fitting pants, and how she let her straight long hair flutter free in the crisp January wind.

            In math class, Zeke took a seat and tapped his ring impatiently on his desk.  A bunch of rooks sat at their desks, talking loudly about some stunt a staff sergeant pulled involving a window and muddy boots.  Sick of listening to their chatter, Zeke thought back to his own rookdom.  It’s funny, he thought, It hasn’t been that long since I was in their position.  And boy, I had it harder than they do.  He recalled an incident in September of his freshman year when his cadre had shark-attacked him, all shouting in his face because he entered the civilian dorm.  His nonchalant attitude had enraged them and sparked a crack-down on his platoon.  This led to his rook buddies resenting him as well.  Because of this, Zeke spent the remainder of his freshman year hiding around campus to avoid the barracks.  First he tried cross country and wrestling, but each of them had workouts that were worth less than being able to hide by the lockers of Andrews Hall.  So he moved on to a new strategy: showing off his manliness to prospects.  He signed up to give at least three group tours a week.  He had a prospect in his room more often than not, which kept his cadre at bay.  When groups of high school students came to the Norwich, Zeke told countless horror stories of “puke-inducing PT” and “cadre with no hearts who crush the dreams of all rooks.”  He convinced himself that he had been through the Sahara Desert in the summertime and Antarctica in the winter.  As soon as he realized that he could avoid the corps, he gave up on it.  Free hours were spent sleeping in the chapel, sitting in the Wise Campus Center on Facebook, and eating ice cream when the mess hall was nearly empty.

            “Skirminy?”  Zeke snapped out of his memories and grinned at the sight of Marisa.  She sat at the desk beside him and brushed her hair from her face.  “Did you catch a lot of flak from the colonel?” she asked.

            “Oh, no.  She was just being an ass about missing formations—that sort of thing,” he said smoothly.  “Nobody gives me flak.  I just act like I’m doing the right thing, and I blend in.”

            “You’re so smart.” Marisa beamed.  Zeke noticed that she wore a ring like his, except three times smaller: a high school ring.  This girl was barely eighteen, just out of twelfth grade.

            Suddenly inspired, he piped up, “Do you want to watch a movie tonight?  In my room?  I’ve got a single!  My roommate dropped out in November.” He emphasized the word “single.”

            She looked slightly surprised.  “A movie?  Um… okay!  What DVDs do you have?”

            Zeke smirked.  “All the best ones.  Why don’t you help me pick one when you arrive?”

            “Sure,” she said.  They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the rooks bantering.  “I sure get sick of the rook talk,” she mumbled.

            “Me too.There’s no rook talk in my room,” he told her.

            “Aw, but you were a rook once too, weren’t you?” she teased.

            “Yeah, but I was never that annoying,” he laughed.  “My dad had to tell me dozens of times to shut up about rookdom.”

            Marisa’s smile suddenly dropped.  In a tone of austerity, she told Zeke, “My father forbade me to date rooks.  He always said they’re way too antsy and will take advantage of me.”

            “Your father’s a smart man.  Is he a Norwich graduate?” he asked.

            “Yes,” Marisa replied, “Thirty-four years ago, he graduated.  I always planned to come here as well.”  Suddenly she became very focused on her math homework, so Zeke fell silent.

            “Class, pass in your homework,” the math teacher called out, and Zeke turned to the front reluctantly.  Throughout class, he did not sleep; instead he glanced often at Marisa, who returned his gaze with a friendly smile.  Zeke sniggered inwardly at his swift progress.

            Marisa left before Zeke could arrange a time for their date.  He walked outside and glared at the snow.  The sun was barely peering through the clouds, causing a glint in the eyes of the statue of Captain Partridge.  He had a weird feeling as he passed it.  His heart rate increased, and his ring suddenly burned on his finger.  He walked back to his room for an early afternoon nap.  Locking his door, Zeke slipped out of his uniform and lay down.  The window was open a crack.  A hissing wind blew through it.  Zeke was thinking of Marisa as he drifted off to sleep.

            Across campus, Marisa sat on her bed, venting to her roommate.  “This guy is lazy, fat, rude, irritating, and stuck-up.  I can already tell what he thinks he’s getting tonight!”

“Why’d you agree to a date at all?” her roommate asked.

“Well, I’ve been studying the corps, and he’s definitely the worst cadet.  I’ve had a whole semester to figure that out.  And you remember what I said about my daddy.  And why he’s gone,” Marisa stated.

“So you’re going to take it out on this one guy?  That seems kind of crazy.  No offense.”

“It’s not crazy,” Marisa said hotly.  “My father died in Afghanistan because his platoon commander was too occupied with his own precious female conquests to take charge.”

“I know, honey.  I’m really sorry.”

Marisa spat, “Skriminy may not be commissioning, but he’s setting an example for hundreds of kids who are on track to become officers in the military.  I won’t let this happen.  There are thousands of brave people in the Middle East who need good leaders, and Skriminy is a clone of that man who let my father die.”

“So what are you going to do?” her roommate questioned.

“I’ll have a talk with him tonight.  And convince him that no girl wants to be with a lazy slob who only cares about video games and hooking up with girls.  If he doesn’t change his ways, I’ll have to resort to drastic measures to get him to remove his Norwich ring.”

            Zeke sat up in bed.  He felt stiff and lazy, but knew that after a quick evening meal he would be energized for an encounter with the freshman girl.  He reached over to his desk to grab his class ring… and it was not there.  His heart skipped a beat.  Zeke stood up and paced the room, looking up and down for the ring.  It was nowhere in sight.  He closed his eyes and thought back.  “I’m sure I put it on my desk,” he muttered.  He thought back to when he lay down and suddenly felt a chill.  It was like remembering a dream.  He recalled a sudden chill in the room right after he lying down.  But he would have noticed if someone came in.

            Zeke tested the door.  It was still locked.  Nobody had come in that way.  He lived too high up to climb through the window.  He decided that he must have dropped it outside.So he put on a Norwich Corps sweatshirt and walked down towards the mess hall, skimming the ground with his eyes.  It was already getting dark out, and every little pebble looked like his ring.  The dark was so overpowering that he missed Marisa as she walked by him.  “Skriminy!”

            He looked up.  “Oh, hey, Marisa.”

            “Lost something?”

            “Yeah, my ring has gone missing.  Do you recall if I had it on when we talked in math?”

            “Yeah, you definitely did.  You were tapping it on your desk like you always do.”

            “Then I must have dropped it in the science building.”  He swore.  “I can’t rest till I find it.  I spent a good two thousand bucks on that ring.”

            “Oh, have faith in the Norwich honor code, Skriminy.  Someone will find and return it.”

            “Honor code, my ass!  I bet someone will grab it and sell it online!” Zeke stormed.

            Marisa looked surprised.  “I don’t think a Norwich cadet would do that.”

            “I’d sell it.  So I know that others would,” Zeke snarled.

            Marisa narrowed her eyes.  “Well, anyway…  I’m glad I ran into you.  In my last class, I agreed to work on a project with some friends until late.”

            “Aw, come on!  You said you’d chill with me first,” Zeke groaned.

            “Don’t worry, babe, I won’t abandon you.  It’s just going to delay our little date,” she told him lightly.  She smiled sweetly up at him with doe eyes.

            Zeke leaned forward, frowning.  He saw a glint in Marisa’s eyes that reminded him of something he had seen earlier that day.  Was she smiling or glaring at him?

            “How about we meet at ten-thirty tonight?” she suggested.

            He continued gazing into her eyes.  Then the weird look was gone.  It must have been the darkness that caused the odd sight.  “Uh, yeah.  That works.  Whatever,” he grumbled.

            “Okay.  Meet me by the Captain Partridge statue.  I have something special in mind.  See you tonight!” she chirped, and hurried away.

            Zeke shivered.  At least it’s not snowing, he thought.  If it was,my ring would be buried till springtime.  He went down to eat dinner.

            Then he returned to the science building to look for his ring.  With six hours to kill, he devoted two of them to skimming the floor with his eyes, getting weird looks from freshmen in their ACUs, who were sitting on the floor studying for biology exams.  Just for the hell of it, he interrogated a scrawny blond kid.  “You!  Have you seen a ring lying around here?”

            “No…” The boy noticed the Corps sweatshirt.  “…Cadet.  I haven’t seen anything, cadet,” he said solemnly.

            Zeke snorted.  “You can relax.  I don’t care about sandwiching or any rook stuff.”

            “Then why are you in the corps, cadet?” a dark-haired freshman asked him.  This boy had scratches on his face.  His ACUs were faded from mud, almost to a yellow hue.

            “You’re obviously a future model cadet,” Zeke said mockingly.  “But some of us don’t care about this system.  We’re just finishing what we started.  I’m over this school.”

            “You shouldn’t be in the corps if you don’t like the rules and regulations,” the dark-haired rook told him.  “I love this school.  My cadre are great.  I can tell they love Norwich, too.  I’m going to do Seal platoon here and commission to serve my country in three years.”

            “Well, aren’t you just wonderful!” Zeke scoffed.  “Don’t talk to me ever again, rook.  Or I’ll have a talk with your cadre about disrespect.”  He stalked off to the Partridge Pub.

            Deciding to go to the pub for a drink, Zeke headed back to the Wise Campus Center.  Once he had a beer in his hand, he leaned over a table depressingly.  Why had Marisa stalled if she liked him?  Why would she want to meet outside in the cold in the night when he had offered her his warm room?  The pub suddenly felt swelteringly hot.  He decided to prepare for his date.

            The wind was blowing outside, causing trees to bend over dramatically.  Zeke felt like the moving shadows around him were dozens of people.  He unconsciously rubbed the empty place on his ring finger as he walked towards his room.  A fallen tree branch suddenly blew by his head, narrowly missing his ear.  “What the hell!” he burst out. 

The wind almost seemed to be talking.  “Un-weeerrrr-theeeee.  Un-weeeerrr-theee,” it howled.  Zeke glared around, detesting his environment.  Then he rushed into Patterson.

Zeke showered and ruffled gel into his longer-than-regulation hair.  He changed into khakis and a jacket with a beanie.  Next he sprayed four sprays of forty dollar cologne and brushed his teeth twice.  Then he turned on his computer to play video games.

Marisa was heading back to her room from her project, shivering slightly.  Was it from the cold or nervousness?  She was not sure.  In her room, she applied some eye makeup and slipped her hand into her pants pocket.  Good, the Norwich ring was still there.Glancing at the time, she muttered to herself, “Ten-twenty-five?  Okay, here goes.”  She walked briskly outside towards the statue.

Zeke was running late.  He shut his computer and hurriedly wrapped a scarf around his neck.  Then he rushed out and skipped down steps towards the statue.  The wind was still howling.  He approached the statue.  It was nearly pitch black outside, except for a couple lights from the nearby buildings.  Nobody was in sight.  His watch said the time was ten-forty.  He thought he saw a figure moving by the statue.  “Marisa?” he said softly.  Nothing responded.  “Marisa, I’m sorry I’m a few minutes late.  I was on my computer.  You know how we cadets are with Starcraft…” His voice trailed off.  The wind seemed to be talking again. 

“Un-weeerrr-theeee.Zeeeeeke.”  It sounded like his name.  Zeke shivered, more than a bit creeped out.  I’ll give her five minutes; then I’ll leave, he thought to himself.  He nervously pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.  His hands trembled as he replaced the lighter in his pocket.

Suddenly, a glow caught his eye.  He gazed up at the statue and staggered back.  Its eyes were truly glowing in the dark!  Then he realized where he had seen glowing eyes that day.  Marisa’s eyes earlier looked just like the statue’s stony gaze.  “Zeeeeke,” a voice rumbled.

Zeke dropped his lit cigarette in the snow and stared at the statue’s piercing face.  “What?  Who’s there?” he cried.

“Zeeeeke.  I have been watching youuuu.  You are unwooorthy to wear the riiiing.  The riiiing symbolizes four years of pain and triumphs at this institutioooon.  You are a slackeeeeer!”

Was the voice a female’s?“Colonel?  You don’t fool me!  Cut this crap out!” Zekeshrieked, his voice cracking.

“You are unworthyyyy, and you will not graduate as a cadeeeet!” the voice boomed.

“I will graduate as a cadet!  With or without my ring!  Was it you who stole my ring?” Zeke shouted angrily.

“Zeeeeke.  If you do not cooperate, your career as a cadet will end heeere, nowwww!”

Zeke, now shaking visibly, took several steps backwards and slipped.  He nearly tumbled over.  “Marisa!  Are you there?  I’m leaving!” he screamed.  He turned and began sprinting full out towards the UP, and then he stepped on a thick patch of black ice.

His feet swooped out from under him like a cartoon.  As he dropped backwards, he thought to himself, “The statue’s going to get me.”  Then his head hit the stony ground hard.

He regained consciousness a few minutes later.  The wind howled harder than before, and there was still nobody in sight.  Zeke rolled over, groaning.  He felt dizzy, and his tongue hurt from biting it hard.  He could feel blood trickling down his chin.  He looked up at the statue again.  Its eyes were dim.  It was not talking.  Someone had to have been playing a joke on him.  Spitting blood, he pushed himself up.  The library’s lights were still on.  Should he walk there? 

No, he thought, I’m going back to my room.  He began walking unsteadily towards the stairs that led to the UP when he heard Marisa’s sweet voice behind him. 

“Skriminy!”  He turned around.  The voice came from the statue.  “Skriminy, why are you leaving me in the cold?”

“I’m going to my room, Marisa!” he yelled.  “I don’t know why you wanted to meet me here and ruin my night, but I’m through with your games!”  He began walking up the stairs.  Suddenly, there was a breath of air on his neck, and he felt cold arms wrap around his chest.

“I’m cold, Skriminy.  Give me your scarf,” the girl’s voice pleaded.

He tried to turn around, but the arms held him stiffly.  “Please, Zeke?” she whispered.

“Okay, okay!  Take my scarf and let me go!” he shouted.

The scarf was unwound from his neck.  Then he felt a hand on his tug on his shoulder.  It felt cold and hard as stone.  “Your jacket too,” the voice insisted.

“Marisa, what the hell!  I’m not giving you anymore clothes!” he screeched, and tried to run.  A hard stony grip held him in place. 

“You’re not going anywhere, Zeke.  I won’t let you graduate from the corps,” a voice hissed in his ear, suddenly turning menacing.  “Leave Norwich, or face the consequences!”

“I’m not leaving!” Zeke hollered, and jerked around to face his adversary.  He stared at it, wide-eyed for a minute.  Then he screamed, but the sound was drowned by the howling wind.

In her room on the UP, the colonel paused from her paperwork at her desk.  Was that a human yell or the wind?  She shook her head and shut her window.  Haunted campus, indeed.

Marisa returned to her room at ten-fifty-five and jumped ontoher bed, serene and smiling.  Her roommate sat at her desk doing homework.  “You’re back early.  What did you say to the boy?” she asked Marisa eagerly.

“I decided it was futile,” Marisa responded wearily.  “Convincing a senior to drop out of the corps?  Nobody could convince him to do that.  He’s been in it for three and a half years already.  Hopefully he’ll drive himself out of the corps by not completing his marching tours.”

“He could still graduate.  And continue to show underclassmen that being a slacker in the corps pays off,” the roommate put in. 

“I think I hurt him tonight.  I only waited for him a few minutes because of the cold.  Then I left,” Marisa said in a satisfied tone.  “Now I’ll be on the lookout for anyone else who might hurt our military with laziness.  Norwich will only graduate the best of the best, and nobody else will end up like my daddy.”  She punched the bedpost.

Her roommate smiled at her enthusiasm.  “But you said you found his ring in the science building during your project.  Are you going to return it to him in class tomorrow?”

“No,” Marisa told her roommate.  “I left it by the statue of Captain Partridge.  If he came tonight, he found it.”

The next morning, the dark-haired enthusiastic rook walked outside, bound for the science building.  The weather was much calmer than the night before.  The rook walked by the library towards the science building.  Then he stopped and gazed at the stone figure, spellbound.  The sight before him had to be a lame joke.

Captain Alden Partridge’s statue had a jacket draped over its shoulders and a scarf around its neck.  A beanie hat perched on its head like a crow.  The rook ventured closer.  What was lying at the statue’s feet?  He covered his mouth as he approached.  It was a body.

Zeke Skriminy lay frozen and dead at the statue’s feet.  His mouth was open, frozen in a horrified scream.  Trickles of blood were frozen on his face, separating it into four grotesque sections, and the skin was pasty white and hard with frostbite.  The only clothes remaining on Zeke’s body were an undershirt and boxers. His obese stomach hung out, forever frozen fat.

But the most startling sight of all was the statue’s pose.  No longer were the arms in a calm position.  The left hand of Captain Alden Partridge pointed accusingly at the cadaver below.  The other fist was clenched tight, and on its index finger was Zeke’s Norwich ring.