At 7 p.m., the lights blazed around the exterior of the house, throwing the Cracker style architecture into high relief. Several stereos in different parts of the house began playing the latest C.D.'s from the most popular bands. Several of the SigBees gathered in the front room while others went into the front yard. Still more were in some of the other common areas, some waited upstairs in the bedrooms, and some were out back in the service area.
Young men from the university began to drift in. A subtle screening process began. Promising groups were ushered up the front steps into the front room, and handed off to one of the brothers for conversation and evaluation. Duds were taken aside, carded, informed that they were underage at a function serving alcohol, and shown out through a side gate in the fence. Those showing up only for free beer were sent to the back patio where they could be served, and receive a special pitch to pledge.
Inside the front room, brothers were leading groups of two and three to side alcoves to talk about the fraternity. Upon obtaining a name and campus address, the brother would take his group into the back for a beer, and lead them on a tour of the house. Few of the rushing visitors knew that the casual conversation was laced with qualifying questions: how much partying have you done since you came, what classes have you registered for, do you study much, have you ever tried marijuana, what church do you attend, and others that were so subtly introduced that the topics seemed to have arisen spontaneously. However, the host brother was monitoring the answers and extra recruiting efforts were made for the boys indicating that they were light on academics, loved to get rowdy and take risks, and oriented toward an active life of socializing under the assistance of intoxicating substances.
Boys who were more reserved and academically-oriented were not discouraged, but if they wanted to pledge the house, they had to put out the effort to get themselves asked back for Thursday afternoon's barbecue.
Montgomery and Travis arrived around 8:30 p.m. They were taken into the front room, where they looked around for the member who had signed them up at the Cavalcade. He was nowhere to be seen, but Jack came over and introduced himself.
"Jack Canter, pledge committee. Welcome to the house. Best frat on campus--all the girls say so." Jack winked.
Travis grinned. "You speak my language. Travis Lewis, and Montgomery Lee."
"Are you the Lee we've been expecting?" Jack asked.
Montgomery blushed. "Probably so. My daddy, uncles and cousins have all been Sigma Omicron Betas."
Jack appraised Montgomery carefully. "The Lees have been an important part of Sigma Omicron Beta from its beginnings. Following in the footsteps, then."
Montgomery nodded. "It's like I'm called to join--destiny, fate or whatever."
Travis laughed. "You'll love Montgomery. He has this big family heritage that sits on him like a straitjacket. All the Lees have done this, the Lees have never done that. But he's a real friend--he's pulled me out of many a mess; you can always count on Montgomery Lee. I rode his coattails through high school, and figured what the hey--I can do the same through college."
Montgomery smiled. "I got the grades, and Travis got the girls: an even trade-off."
Jack laughed. "We need both talents in Sigma Omicron Beta. You guys want a beer?"
Travis replied, "Love one. But (here he joined with Montgomery) the Lees do not drink alcohol." To Jack he said, "See what I mean? You'll get used to it." Jack was wondering how to split them up when he caught a warning glance from Cody. He led the way through the dining room into the kitchen. "Here's a brew, Travis. Coke for your pal."
He led the way up a back stairway to the bedrooms. "Our rooms sleep two to four. Every year we have the opportunity to change rooms on a seniority basis. Usually we pick our roommates and then the room. We don't have many house rules--live and let live. We are one big happy family. We do like to party and get rowdy on occasion."
Travis interjected, "Only on occasion?"
Jack smiled broadly. He liked Travis. "As much as you want--every day's an occasion to get messed up. Of course, if we did that, we would get fat from all the calories." Travis thought Jack sounded like a fun guy to know. Montgomery thought he sounded like a jerk. Jack finished the tour of the house. "Are you two signed up?"
Travis answered, "We did that Friday."
"Great! Then we'll see you back here on Thursday."
After Montgomery and Travis left the house, Jack conferred with Cody. "The Travis kid is a possible, but we need to dump the Lee kid--all grades, no fun."
"Careful. We have to let him pledge--his family has too much clout in this place for us to refuse him. Then we'll see--sometimes these stiffs loosen up with a little encouragement. He might be one of us waiting to cut loose."
"I hope so. The last thing we need in the house is moralizers."
"You said it, brother. We need a couple of brains to get us through our courses. But they have to be tolerant of our lifestyle." He snickered.
"And our occupation."
"And our occupation."
