Vag slipped between two cars, cut back and picked up a streetear for interference, and made it across the street without breaking stride. A string of Crimson flags and the usual knot of athletic characters in front of Leavitt & Peirce shifted his attention from the young thing in front of him to the matter of the afternoon's entertainment.

All week he had been a little confused by reports from behind the board fences of Soldiers Field. The only tangible thing he had noticed was that his won conversation had been almost unconsciously steered away from the usual breakfast-table gridiron speculation. Vag had always been a little vague about rules and such things; football had always been a pleasant compromise between little men on the field and little girls in the stands. Now it seemed that there were other less mellow aspects to the whole business.

The whole thing seemed out of tune to Vag. Last night's rally had been all wrong somehow; none of the usual breezy blitheness of the past weeks, when coaches and captain had primed him with confidence and brought the brave glint of defiance to his eyes. He had tried, all right, coming out, to Holyoke Street with a little bottle and lots of euthusiasm; but there were discouraging gaps in the ranks of morale-boosters on the big steps which no amount of cheerleader gyrations could replace.

What the hell, it was too hot for football, anyway. Hour exams, tutorial, and that fourth course he hadn't sampled yet needed attention. You, that was it. He would curl up with a little cool beer and a book this afternoon. Vag chuckled at the thought of a B- or two in November to throw at his family. Then he noticed the three couples ahead of him, and the guy across the street with the familiar packages under his arm. He remembered something about a party "after the game." Vag, the student, was left in a phone booth a minute later, and a more livable, if slightly less shiny, Vag emerged and place-kicked a bottlcap neatly between the uprights of two parking meters. He now had a date; only one thing remained. Cakewalking down the white line as be headed for the bank, he erased the last heretical doubt. What good was an uncashed Coop dividend check with an upset brewing in the Stadium?