My headphones were on and through crowds of people I walked. I saw a busy street and knew I had to cross it. I hustled my way across to the safety of the sidewalk. I went out of my way to step on dry leaves, which fall to their fate on the quad. I like to hear the crunch beneath my feet. When I’m not looking for crunchy leaves, only sometimes do I look down. I am usually looking for a familiar face or raising my head to notice the beautiful color of blue draped across the sky above me. I saw the sun was shining on everything and I walk through the cool shadow of the great oak trees. I saw a red squirrel scurry across the wilting grass to bury food for the future. I looked up and I saw the clock was only at a quarter ‘til two. I’m always early. I look to the left of the path I was walking and I saw Williams Hall, my destination. I saw a woman sitting in the sun, enjoying the warmth upon her skin, smiling. I saw the steps leading to the entrance and decided to go in. It was passing period. I saw, it seemed, a swarm of fellow students who crammed their way through doorways to escape from the building as if it were on fire. I could only imagine they were leaving so excitedly to make it to their next class. I saw the dim hallway leading to my classroom. I saw my class sitting, standing, sulking, waiting for class to begin. I saw the teacher from the last class emerge from the room and everyone slowly filed in. I saw the desk, which I claim as mine. I sit there regularly. I saw to my right, Kristen. I saw to my left, David. I saw Gabe sitting in front of us, holding an apple. After he took a bite, I saw he placed it on the table next to other papers, books, and our attendance list. I saw his head twist around, looking for the people who owned the names in which he was speaking. “Here,” we all claimed. I saw everyone was present in class. As class progressed, I saw that most people had finally started to understand what was going on. I saw we started to understand the purpose for the class. And as much as we all complain about how boring and confusing the books we read are, I saw in the eyes of everyone around me: we were learning.
- Kristen Runvik
