Of course, you never could tell. Some fellows would be cruising. But what was the use of cruising? Where did it get you? Had he ever found anybody worthwhile that way? No. Yet that certain impelling urge to cruise was there. Of Of course you couldn't cruise the library too often. Because then you'd get the reputation of being "that jaded old faggot who snoops around the library every night trying to pick somebody up."

John returned to his seat. The cute blond was studying, but not very intently. A girl passed by.

"Hi, Glimp," she said.

Glimp! What a silly name! The blond grinned. A sweet, unbearable, boyish grin. He waved.

John squirmed in his seat. Glimp lived in a different world. He was cute and had a cute nickname and had cute friends. John's world had no room for nicknames, piquant faces, and merriment. Strictly business. How could two human beings be seated so close to each other and yet be so far apart?

John squirmed some more. This was just one of those nights when he couldn't keep still. He got up. Glimp looked up at him. He looked at Glimp. Glimp's eyes turned away. Ah, that's the way it was. Too afraid to stare. All the fellows were like that. Nobody here cruised. They all thought it was rude to stare. Consequently you never met anybody. Life had so many problems.

John walked around the room, just to see who was there. He couldn't be too obvious, of course. Must look as though he were just browsing for books. He had one squeaky shoe. Damn! That made everyone look up as he passed. He couldn't pass a second time in the same place or it would look as if he was crusing. Well, he was, wasn't he?

Cone

Maybe he was too self-conscious. Did Glimp, for instance, ever suspect. that John had purposely sat near him so many times just for the privilege of gazing on his pretty face? It was so hard to tell! Probably Glimp never suspected a thing. Most of these fellows wouldn't. But then how could he ever get the point across to Glimp that he liked him? And if Glimp did get the point John would be embarrassed, and then he hoped once again that Glimp would not get the point. Oh, what a crazy, mixed-up world!

He went downstairs and into the main reading room. Over to the drinking fountain. To get a drink. Well, not really to get a drink, but to cruise the fellow sitting at the nearest table. The drinking fountain was just a "blind." It seemed so futile and dishonest to spend one's life pretending pretending to need a drink, pretending to have to go to the men's room to comb your hair, pretending to need to ask the time. Was cruising really a necessary part of life?

He refused to hang around the john. That was a sure way to find sex, but the nicer guys never hung around there. All you found there were the goons and drips and a few guttersnips who probably had VD and everything else. It was sure easy to find the guys you didn't want and pretty hard to find the ones you did

want.

Take that guy sitting over there near the corner, for instance. Hey! He was handsome. John passed him nonchalantly. Oh, he had seen him before. He had the most beautiful pair of legs on campus. Face-passable, no-handsome. Well, not exactly. His nose was sort of hook-like, and his eyes were perhaps a little too deep-set. But a nice, sensitive mouth and well-formed face gave a pretty good appearance. And he wore shorts,