I rolled the glowing tip of ash against the edge of the cup, and watched the burnt tobacco and paper fall.I rolled the glowing tip of ash against the edge of the cup, and watched the burnt tobacco and paper fall. I'd been smoking too much lately. Funny how I could think that and keep lighting one damn Dunhill after the other. Must be stress. Yeah. That was it. My hand crept up to my temple and started to massage it lightly, then harder, dragging strands of hair into my eye. I had found myself obsessing today... I was lying on the still damp grass near the pond with a friend of mine. We were watching the ducks swim aimlessly around, and the swan make a general obnoxious pest out of itself; both normal activities for the pond life at the University. And she and I both were shifting position every so often to catch a view of the passing students, and to see what the step sitters were up to over at the Student Union. Like I said, normal. It was spring. The hormones were out. Today was beautiful. The sun was shining down, drying off the last of the spring run-off. The wind was just cold enough to carry the memory of winter. It hadn't taken much convincing to get her to come with me and hang out. She flipped through her newly-purchased Cliff notes on Moby Dick, and I stared up towards the south end of campus. So many people. It seemed like thousands passing by. Maybe it was. Damn, this University had a lot of students. I looked at them. A woman, dressed in a sheer skirt and loose top that clung to her chest as the wind blew over her. The skirt billowed attractively around her tanned calves as she went by, and I smelled the faintest spice of perfume. |