Monday is my second longest day of the week. I have 5 hours of class with an hour break from 12-1. I’m trying to live on the cheap, but have decided to treat myself to a sandwich from the sandwich man every Monday and Tuesday, my two longest days on campus.
So it was finally sandwich time, and I went out to the little shack only to discover that it was closed. I assumed he was on strike for some reason or another, because that’s the way things work around here. This put a damper on my day, but I resigned myself to the cafeteria instead. But when I got to the cafeteria it was closed, too!
I was starving and had 4 straight hours of class coming up, so I trudged over to the building where I had my next class and decided to get something out of the vending machine. I had all of my supplementary snacks (yogurt, granola bar, and a banana), so I just needed something small. Unfortunately when I got to the lobby I realized that this was not the building with the good vending machines. Don’t get me wrong- the hot beverage machine was there, but that doesn’t cut it when you’re starving. Besides, coffee on an empty stomach causes ulcers. Do you hear me, all you people impatiently waiting outside of Starbucks at 5am? Dad, are you reading this?!?
Dejected, I headed back toward the other building with the food vending machines, desperately hoping that in an amazing and unlikely twist of fate, the sandwich man had given up his strike and come back to his sandwich shack. But I was not so lucky. I was sinking into a depression, thinking about the disgusting pamplemousse (grapefruit) yogurt that was going to be my lunch (It came in a variety pack. That's the thing about variety packs- they always screw you over with some reject flavor that nobody actually wants. It was the last straw. Never again.). Then all of the sudden, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. Something bright…something orange.
A kid from our classes happened to be headed in my direction. He’s extremely friendly, even though I don’t know him that well. The funny thing is he has fiery red hair and 99% of the time is wearing this bright orange windbreaker. Needless to say, he’s hard to miss, and I saw him before he saw me. He looked kind of preoccupied so I debated on whether or not he was in the talking mood. As he got closer I decided to say hi. He immediately made a bee-line for me, completely abandoning whatever mission he was on prior to our encounter.
Kid: “Hey! How are you? How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?
Want a sandwich?”
Me: Puzzled, and wondering if he can read my mind, or if my longing for a sandwich is really that obvious. “Excuse me? Oh…um…yes, but all the places are closed.”
Kid: “I know. I got one this morning at a place by my house. But I ate one of the halves and can’t eat any more. It’s really good. Here you go.”
A “sandwich” here is like an entire baguette, so half a sandwich is a pretty substantial amount of food. Was this really happening? It was almost like he was a genie, there to grant me a wish. And at the moment, my greatest wish in life was for a sandwich. And just like that, a sandwich presented itself to me. And it was delicious. I like to think it's karma. Despite what my family says, I'm actually pretty nice. But I'm sure it was just lucky timing...maybe even the pigeon poop luck that is supposed to be heading my way :)
I am forever indebted to anonymous kid, my “ginger” beacon of nourishment...or to the pigeon that bombed me a couple weeks ago.
SHAZAAM!!!
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