By Henry Coen

BURLING JUNGLE GYM—Vikky Tum ‘28 giggles as she watches a documentary about the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand over her boyfriend’s shoulder. “That’s just like John Pork and Tim Cheese.”

Until a few weeks ago, Pedro File ’25 had never really noticed the age gap in his relationship. “Vikky is really mature for her age,” the 23 year old told us. “Plus, she’s a May birthday, so she’s basically 19 already.” 

However, Pedro has recently found it hard to relate to his Vikky about much of anything:

“I don’t know what the hell a Fanum Tax is, or why she says I’m goated with the sauce anytime I buy her alcohol. Plus she’s always complaining about her FYE homework when I’m out here doing sixty-page lab reports.” 

What’s more, the couple frequently fights about where to spend the night—Pedro’s place off campus, or Vikki’s place on the couches in the HSSC. Then again, the two barely have time to spend together anyway. Pedro is busy worrying about the job market outside of Grinnell, while Vikky is working to keep her 70-person first-year friend group from collapsing.

Off the record, Pedro confessed that he didn’t expect the relationship to work out. He hasn’t yet gotten around to telling Vikky that he has already decided on a replacement:

“We are both seniors and we can really relate to each other about graduating soon.” Pedro said, talking about his new crush. “Yeah it sucks that her graduation happens the night before mine, but the good news is that Grinnell High School is close by.”

Pedro says he is eager to bring his new special friend Grooma ’29 to senior prom, and he is sure she will invite him to her own—especially if we can sneak her and her friends into a High St party to watch him play die. 

When asked if Pedro felt any stigma around the age gap in his new relationship, he said he had. “Most of the guys on my team think it’s kind of gross that my girlfriend is only five years younger than me. They are always joking about her being an old hag and stuff, but I think age is just a number.

 

Note: We attempted to interview Grooma for this piece, but we were unable to contact her parents to sign a waiver.