‘Ahh… yes… The Pit,’ the old man sighed, sounding weary ‘every year on this night I see people just like you — young men mostly — throwi...ng their love away into The Pit.’ Mark gave a puzzled look. ‘Do you honestly think that will make things better?’ he asked Mark. Mark shrugged. ‘A friend of mine told me that’s what I should do.’ ‘Yes. I see,’ the old man said ‘so, that box… you have all the things she gave you?’ ‘Yes.’ Mark replied. ‘What’s her name?’ the elderly stranger demanded. ‘Denise.’. One night she walked in, plopped her school books on the floor and said hi to me. After my mom left, she told me that since I was so good for her, I could stay up and watch tv as late as I wanted, as long as I didn't tell my mom, and I went to bed before she got home without a fuss. Of course I agreed, feeling grown up, and felt like she was conspiratorially sharing a secret with me. She told me she was bored late at night because I fell asleep so easily, and wanted me to stay up with her.But,. I spent two full days being a dress dummy, or at least a suit dummy. They didn't have time to get the clothes ready before I was due for super at the Jamison house, but they were able to cobble up an outfit that at least looked decent and they had their minds made up to get me into good shape for later wear.I left in my fixed up finery for supper and I got a whale of a surprise when I arrived. I'd known Jenna's mother had died last winter of an ague, but I didn't have any notion Mr. Jamison had. Harold said that he had gotten an invitation to a sleeping apparel party for that night at Charlene’s dorm. Since he couldn’t enter her dorm without a specific invitation from the Senior Resident, that’s who had signed the invitation. He said he had accepted, but wasn’t sure what it was all about. I stepped in. “Harold, your roommate will be interviewed on video about what you wear to bed. If you decide to go to the party, wear only that to the party. Otherwise you will be very embarrassed.”.