"We just got a couple hundred students to do some folding in their
spare time and then sold it on. Everyone on campus needs bookshelves,
so we started with those -- using accordion-folded arched supports
under each shelf. We could paint or print designs on them, too, but a
lot of people liked them all-white. Then we did chairs, desks,
kitchenette sets, placemats -- you name it. I called the designs
'Multiple Origami.'"
Perry sprayed beer out his nose. "That's awesome!" he said, wiping up
the mess with a kleenex that she extracted from a folded paper
purse. Looking closely, he realized that the white baseball cap she
was wearing was also folded out of paper.
She laughed and rummaged some more in her handbag, coming up with a
piece of stiff card. Working quickly and nimbly, she gave it a few
deft folds along pre-scored lines, and a moment later she was holding
a baseball hat that was the twin of the one she was wearing. She
leaned over the table and popped it on his head.
Luke came back with the water and set it down between them, pouring
out glasses for everyone.
"Smooth lid," he said, touching the bill of Perry's cap.
"Thanks," Perry said, draining his water and pouring another
glass. "Well, you people certainly have some pretty cool stuff going
on here."
"This is a great town," Luke said expansively, as though he had
travelled extensively and settled on Madison, Wisconsin as a truly
international hotspot. "We're going to build a kick-ass ride."
"You going to make it all out of paper?"
"Some of it, anyway," Luke said. "Hilda wouldn't have it any other
way, right?"
"This one's your show, Luke," she said. "I'm just a fundraiser."
"Anyone hungry?" Hilda said. "I want to go eat something that doesn't
have unidentified organ-meat mixed in."
"Go on without me," Ernie said. "I got money on this game."
"Homework," Luke said.
Perry had just eaten, and had planned on spending this night in his
room catching up on email. "Yeah, I'm starving," he said. He felt like
a high-school kid, but in a good way.
They went out for Ukrainian food, which Perry had never had before,
but the crepes and the blood sausage were tasty enough. Mostly,
though, he was paying attention to Hilda, who was running down her war
stories from the Multiple Origami fundraiser. There were funny ones,
sad ones, scary ones, triumphant ones.
Every one of her stories reminded him of one of his own. She was an
organizer and so was he and they'd been through practically the same
shit. They drank gallons of coffee afterward, getting chucked out when
the restaurant closed and migrating to a cafe on the main drag where
they had low tables and sofas, and they never stopped talking.
"You know," Hilda said, stretching and yawning, "it's coming up on
four AM."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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