Egocentric  I'm at home in Oak Valley. At first it seems I'm outside, and then I'm inside. I let three dogs out that seem to have been lounging in my mom's room. One is a small black dog, less than a foot tall. The others are larger. One is a light colored dog, maybe a yellow lab, and the other is black or gray. I open the inside garage door and they run out under the big old yellow swinging garage door. At some point I'm calling them back in. It takes a while for them to come in, but eventually they do. It is winter: cold with crusty dry snow. My mom is gone at the moment. I see my friends Annie Thomas, Nate Nelling, Emily Zates, and another person. They walk down Home Avenue going south, as I look out the front window. I don't want to run after them directly, but I do want to see them, so I plan to run down the alley and intercept them nonchalantly, so it will look like an accident. I put on shoes that are too small for me, and are very tight on my feet, with tight laces. I'm wearing my green wool sweater and I put on my fuzzy green coat. I go out the back door and grab an old cracked and broken red/orange plastic shovel. I do this so it will look like I'm going to do something. My mom pulls in the driveway as I'm about to walk down the alley. She is driving the brown station wagon. I get near the end of the alley and come across a boy whose bicycle is in disrepair. He is about eight to ten years old, and his bicycle is small and brown, BMX-style. I help him fix it. I take the front wheel and fork apart from the frame and see there are three bolts holding it together, going into the fork. Annie, Nate, and Emily walk up to me as I'm helping the boy. One of them comments, "I should've known that he'd be here..." I help the boy, starting to screw in three bolts. Nate says, "So, how was it?" He means my study abroad in Australia, from which it seems I have now returned. "It sucked", I say facetiously, and then crack a smile. I continue, as the others laugh at my sarcasm, "I'm going to India." The others catch a glimpse of my captivation by my experiences. Annie is lying on her back to the right of me. She laughs. I say, "No, really, I am (going to India)."