Alex Bishop and The Elusive Dorian Brown

                                                                                        Chapter 1

                                                                                     New Friends

     Alex said goodbye to his family and friends, got in his dark blue S.U.V. and took off for Mont Eagle Tennessee.  It was an eight hour drive to his new home-The University of the South where he would spend the next two years of his life.  When he arrived on the top of the mountain he followed his G.P.S. instructions which took him to the college.

     The university was one of the largest buildings in the small mountain town of Mont Eagle; with it's old architecture mixed in with the more modern structures.  The town's bakery shop, was very popular with the college students, and also with the town's people and the population of the folks below the mountain who lived in the town of Manchester.  Many of them came up to the mountain to fish the clear blue waters and patronize the restaurants, shops and the festivals.

     When Alex arrived at his destination he pulled up to the administration building and gazed upward and sideways at the massive structure that looked like an ancient castle, but one that was still in great shape.  "All it needs is a moat,"  Alex said aloud with a chuckle.  The entire campus spread out for a city block.  A hand carved clock of stone was mounted into the high peak of the administration building.

     A brick walkway surrounded the entire building.  Stone arches seemed to have grown out of the rocks in the building every six feet or so and then gracefully bending over the sidewalk. Ivy grew selectively upon the university stone walls and the arches.  Alex just sat there in his car for a few minutes admiring his new school.  But he was excited to get his dorm room number so he could get going to his his new room.

     Alex decided to leave his car in the visitor's parking lot for the time being, until someone could tell him where student parking was.  So Alex walked up a short set of stone steps and opened the door.  There was a gray haired, stern looking lady with a mound of papers on her desk, sitting in front of a small reception window-a sign posted on the front of it which said, "Registration."

     "Hello," Alex said politely.  The women looked up and said, "Name."  "Alex Bishop," Alex answered.  "Paper work," she demanded.  Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out the information she'd asked for and handed it through the window.  The woman then handed him a sheet of paper with his dorm room number on it, and where he could find the designated student parking lot.  "Thank you," Alex said, and then left the building.

     He climbed in his vehicle and breathed a sigh, "I sure hope she's not what goes for a good attitude around here," he said with a grin and shaking his head.  Alex pulled out into the winding road which ran all through the campus, while glancing down at the paper and following the instructions as to how to get to his dorm.

     He found it within about eight minutes and parked his car in front of dorm number  2.  Curious as Alex always was about what was around the corner, he got out of the car and walked around the side of the brick building, to see a large pretty courtyard full of dogwood trees that would bloom in the spring and several benches,(fall flowers three quarters the way around them.) A variety of flowers also lined the stone path, along with old fashioned lamp posts. "Cool," Alex said nodding at it.

     Alex smiled his approval as he walked through the double doors and gazed around at the natural woodwork which had been polished to it's highest sheen, including the staircase which would take him upstairs to his room.  Alex knew right away it was a co-ed dorm because a few girls walked by and said hello and welcome to him.  Alex had his arms full of as many boxes as he could carry, so he couldn't wave as he usually would, so he just said a shy hello.  Then he  begin climbing the steps to the second floor.  When he reached the top he was thankful to see his room was the first one on the right, Dorm number five.