The next morning, at breakfast, Dean again had some difficulty finding a place to sit. There were virtually no seats left, even in front of the TV where he had eaten yesterday. There was one seat left at a table where four guys in their thirties were having an animated conversation. One of them noticed that Dean was looking for a seat and motioned him over.
After Dean sat down, he introduced the others in his group. “This is Jeff, that’s Paul, and the loud guy is Timmy. I’m Jerry. We’re all from New York originally, but when we all finished college, we got jobs in different parts of the country. We get together here for a week every summer to catch up. I’m in Dallas now, Timmy’s in Baltimore, and Paul and Jeff are in Chicago.”
“Wow,” said Dean. “And you all travel those great distances e
