He realizes that Ginsberg is mostly kidding, but he can't let him get the wrong impression, has to correct him right away, speaking quickly, "Oh, no, don't believe that, please. Your dad made the right call, boarding school is horrific. Better your dad never letting you out of his sight than a couple dozen teachers and priests never letting you out of theirs. And the 'things' that people get up to at boarding school are mostly just... vicious pranks and bullying and bullshit. You didn't miss out on anything, there."

It's a curious feeling, listening to Ginsberg talking about all those milestones, the common narrative of the American teenager. He might not volunteer this on his own, but it's different, if Ginsberg goes first. If, by talking about himself, he's offering a degree of solace or solidarity to a man that he really rather likes, so far. "I do know. I didn't do any of those things, either, or any of the things that normal kids did at Longborough- at the school where I grew up. I was about as abnormal as they came."