Weekend Quietly Ends With Wine, Music As November Winds Keep Couples Indoors

A hectic weekend quietly closes. Of a Sunday afternoon--between Saturday's passes and Monday's exams--couples forsake the falling November leaves for a secluded nook. They leave the pale autumn light outside, expecting warm fires and mellow wine.

The joviality of Saturday's parties, is a memory. Football pennants lie tossed across a chair and beer cans are gone. The couple signing into Eliot may listen to the Philharmonic, or road.

They finished Sunday lunch early--chicken and ice cream, and rustled the leaves on their way to Eliot. They planned a tag football game, but it fell through due to the cold weather. They'd thought of a movie, too. Nothing looked appealing. So they rustled the leaves and went inside.

The girl has till eight before returning to college. She and her date decided on cocktails and dinner alone. The waiter has just left after taking their order.

For them, too, the great outside has lost its charms. Threatening snow and chilly wind strung their cheeks as they walked through the Yard. Dinner was the answer to the cold. What to eat? Everyone had steak last night. How about chicken? No, everyone eats chicken on Sunday. Ah spaghetti and a bottle of chanti with spumoni for desert. Perfect. Menu settled, they lean forward in intimate friendship.

For the girl penning a letter home--quiet and unhurried. Sunday afternoon has her recalling the past week. A million ideas run through her head--the waving football pennants, desperation kicks; Friday's dance; hour exams; an extra-special letter.

But the paper stayed white, her pen still empty. She can't get the weekend's flavor and idly, dreams instead. She doesn't wish for Eliot House, Italian food, tag football, or the Philharmonic. And she isn't thinking of Monday's tests. Some Sunday spirit has whisked her away.

The weekend's finale comes swirling leaves and crackling branches. It comes on padded feet which, cloud-like, steal across the sky. It doesn't end with a crash or black and white announcement. Without exactly knowing why or how it ends. Maybe the wine or music brings it on.

Begun amid confusion and great expectations, this long-awaited weekend bids couples adieu, wishes' them bigger and better blasts, and slyly smiles that all has been a success.