By Nora Clancy

How did you two meet?

Carrie: We met in creative writing class with Judith Katz freshman year. We sat next to each other.

Devin: It was spontaneous. I saw her name was Rosenthal, and I love Jews because I’m Jewish. It was love.

Carrie: Devin had long hair then, a curly fro that went down to his shoulders.

Devin: Carrie tried to kiss me everyday in class, but I said, “No, Carrie.” We didn’t really hang out that much. We were friendly, but we weren’t friends. I don’t know why.

Carrie: Because Devin was too cool for school.

Devin: I was not too cool for school! Stop it Carrie.

What did you write about?

C: We read each other’s poetry.

D: Carrie wrote about apartments in New York.

C: Devin wrote about love and girls and family.

D: No I didn’t! I didn’t write about girls, did I?

C: You didn’t like girls then?

D: Oh, that was that time. College is really experimental.

What adventures have you had together?

D: We went skinny dipping in North Carolina rivers over spring break. It was sublime. I saw Carrie’s boobs.

C: We also took off our clothes and ran up a hill.

Were there other people around?

C: It was a pass by the river. Probably more people saw me naked than will ever see me naked again in my entire life.

D: We like to do fun things together. It’s friendship. Cause if one person decides to do it, then everyone else has to do it.

How did you end up in North Carolina?

C: We went to The Nook, that’s why. We like going to The Nook together because they have delicious hamburgers.

D: Even though I don’t eat burgers.

C: We went to The Nook and decided we liked the group we had, and that we should go somewhere. We decided we wanted to go to the South, because Devin loves the South.

D: We got a van and drove there. I drove for a lot of it. But Carrie didn’t drive, because she doesn’t have her driver’s license.

C: I have my permit. I’ve thought about [getting my license] for four years, and I haven’t done anything about it.

D: She’s from New York. She’s cool—she doesn’t need a driver’s license. Eventually she’ll need one to drive to my house when we make babies.

What else did you do in the South besides get naked?

C: We went to Kentucky. We ate grits. We stayed in South Carolina for two nights in some tents.

D: We saw Stephen King.

C: It wasn’t him, but it looked like him.

D: So we took pictures by him, from outside pretending it was him. I kept yelling “Stephen King” in the restaurant to see if he would turn around. But he didn’t turn around. So then we realized it wasn’t him, unless he was just playing coy.

How did you pass the time in the van?

D: We played a game called “Life Stories” on the way back home. It was a great game, which brought us all closer together. You had to give an autobiography of yourself for half an hour. I invented the game cause I was tired and driving in the middle of the night and I made everyone stay up and tell me their life story.

Did you learn anything surprising from the game?

D: I found out that Carrie had an imaginary friend growing up.

C: No, not an imaginary friend!

D: It only spoke once a year, and when it did, it only said three things. Carrie, say them. Please? I love you. Do it for the kids.

C: Schizo Bear was his name. It was a bear, a puppet. He can only talk on leap day. He speaks freely on leap day, but on all the other days of the year he only says three phrases, and those are: “Sorry, bub!” “Having trouble concentrating?” and “Elevator going up!”

D: From that moment on. I knew Carrie Rosenthal and I were destined to be together forever. It’s hard to escape Schizo Bear.

You are both sticking around after graduation. Will you live together?

C: No. But Devin has to live with his high school friends anyway because he’s stuck in the past.

D: Whoa! Carrie has to live with lesbians. Cause she loves them. I do too, though.

What is another activity that is sacred between only the two of you?

C: We play a game together. The game is: you have to look the other person in the eye, say their full name and say the dirtiest thing you can possibly think of without laughing or cracking a smile.

D: She wins usually.

C: I like to do it in the style of magical realism.

D: Do the old one that I really like.

C: Devin Elliot Golden Homme: I wish we were both white Siberian tigers, so that in a couple hundred years, we’d be completely endangered. Zookeepers would capture us from our native lands, put us in a cage and force us to mate.

D: Isn’t she great? She’s really good at it. It’s really, you know, heightened our love for each other.

C: That didn’t have anything to do with magical realism.

Do you critique each other’s work in Advanced Writing Workshop?

C: Everyone in the class is mean to each other. Except we all like each other.

D: It’s really fun. Any creative writing senior is in the class.

C: Devin writes poetry about his family and he has been writing the same poem for three months.

D: Shhh! I’ve changed it around. It’s a big long huge thing. Carrie writes about being around here and some guys at a coffee shop. Basically, it’s like Carrie looking at people, commenting on them and manipulating who they might be. It was one of my favorite pieces we’ve read. Of all the people in the class, I like three people the best—and Carrie’s one of them.

When taking a break from writing, you play intramural softball together. Tell us about your team.

C: Our team name is the Giant Squids, which I came up with because I’m obsessed with giant squids and other underwater sea creatures.

D: Carrie has a lot of odd obsessions.

C: I was under the impression that nobody had ever seen a giant squid alive before. But I don’t know where I got that fact. All I know is if you go to the Natural History Museum in New York, there is a plaster model of a giant squid. For some reason, there’s a security guard who guards it at all times. His only job is to make sure you don’t touch the giant squid, which I’m confused about, because it’s made of concrete!

D: And who cares about concrete?

Do you have shared career interests?

D: I’m a soccer coach. My kids are really great and funny.

C: I work at Fraser Child and Family Center. I have two kids that are mine.

C: Devin and I both love children. I’m gonna have like 12, hopefully starting next year. I will name one Devin, if it’s a girl. Because Devin is a girl’s name.

D: I can’t believe you just said that!