An hour and fifteen minutes later the Wilsons’ Volvo passed the sign reading: “Welcome to Bartlet, Home of Bartlet College.”
David let up on the accelerator and the car slowed. They were on a wide avenue aptly called Main Street. The street was lined with large oaks. Behind the trees were white clapboard homes. The architecture was a potpourri of colonial and Victorian.
“So far it looks story-bookish,” Angela said.
“Some of these New England towns look like they belong in Disney World,” David said.
Angela laughed. “Sometimes I think you feel a replica is better than an original.”
After a short drive the homes gave way to commercial and civic buildings which were constructed mostly of brick with Victorian decorations. In the downtown area stood rows of three- and four-story brick structures. Engraved stone plaques announced the year each was constructed. Most of the dates were either late nineteenth century or early twentieth.
“Look!” Nikki said. “There’s a movie theater.” She pointed at a shabby marquee announcing a current movie in large block letters. Next to the movie theater was a post office with a tattered American flag snapping in the breeze.
“We’re really lucky with this weather,” Angela remarked. The sky was pale blue and dotted with small, puffy white clouds. The temperature was in the high sixties.
“What’s that?” Nikki questioned. “It looks like a trolley with no wheels.”
David laughed. “That’s called a diner,” he said. “They were popular back in the fifties.”
Nikki was straining against her seat belt, excitedly leaning forward to peer out the front windshield.
As they approached the heart of the town they discovered a number of gray granite buildings that were significantly more imposing than the brick structures, especially the Green Mountain National Bank with its corbeled and crenellated clock tower.
“That building really looks like something out of Disney World,” Nikki said.
“Like father, like daughter,” Angela said.
They came to the town green whose grass had already achieved a luxurious, almost midsummer color. Crocuses, hyacinths, and daffodils dotted the park, especially around the gingerbread central gazebo. David pulled the car over to the side of the road and stopped.
“Compared with the section of Boston around Boston City Hospital,” David said, “this looks like heaven.”
At the north end of the park was a large white church whose exterior was rather plain except for its enormous steeple. The steeple was neo-Gothic, replete with elaborate tracery and spires. Its belfry was enclosed by columns supporting pointed arches.
“We’ve got several hours before our interviews. What do you think we should do?” David asked.
“Why don’t we drive around a little more, then have lunch?” Angela said.
“Sounds good to me.” David put the car in gear and continued along Main Street. On the west side of the town green they passed the library which, like the bank, was constructed of gray granite. But it looked more like an Italian villa than a castle.
Just beyond the library was the elementary school. David pulled over to the side of the road so Nikki could see it. It was an appealing turn-of-the-century three-story brick building connected to a nondescript wing of more recent vintage.
“What do you think?” David asked Nikki.
“Would that be where I’d go to school if we come here to live?” Nikki asked.
“Probably,” David said. “I can’t imagine they’d have more than one school in a town of this size.”
“It’s pretty,” Nikki said noncommittally.
Driving on, they quickly passed through the commercial section. Then they found themselves in the middle of the Bartlet College campus. The buildings were mostly the same gray granite they’d seen in the town and had the same white trim. Many were covered with ivy.
“A lot different from Brown University,” Angela said. “But charming.”
“I often wonder what it would have been like if I’d gone to a small college like this,” David said.
“You wouldn’t have met Mommy,” Nikki said. “And then I wouldn’t be here.”
David laughed. “You’re so right and I’m so happy I went to Brown.”
Looping through the college, they headed back toward the center of town. They crossed over the Roaring River and discovered two old mill buildings. David explained to Nikki how water power was used in the old days. One of the mills now housed a computer software company, but its water wheel was slowly turning. A sign advertised that the other mill was now the New England Goat Hanger Company.