the fact is , money does n't get anyone into the piper school , his father had told him during that bicentennial summer , the summer of blue skies and bunting and tall ships , a summer which seemed golden in jake 's mem-ory because he had not yet begun to lose his mind and all he had to worry about was whether or not he could cut the mustard at the piper school , which sounded like a nest for newly hatched geniuses .