The perfect cool air of the night defied the regulating dorm box buttons. So I fled the dorm to watch the breeze in the leaves and laugh at the bubble-gum pink and tang orange tulips planted by UCA maintenance in dirty red-tinctured mulch. A copy of Wordsworth’s The Excursion and Michael Pollan’s Second Nature were my evening companions, the first being part of my thesis research and the second, an indulgence for the last weeks of the term. It seemed a more appropriate diversion than my former facebook days, for my excitement was clicked by the universal refresh of spring. I settled in the student center courtyard and after reading for an hour or so a boy walked up to me, and asked, “What are you reading?”
“ A book by Michael Pollan called Second Nature.”
“What is it about”
“Oh, about gardening and its relationship with nature.”
“ I just wanted to ask. I saw you sitting out here at night, and guessed that you were reading something about nature. I was right.”
He smiled. Without another word, he turned and walked across the courtyard towards the library. I am not sure what he meant by the encounter, nor can I quite assess its affect on me, other than a gentle confusion. His voice kind, almost jolly. I wonder if he too sought the fresh air that winds and dances in the spaces between halls and dorms, blowing dogwood petals over the pavement.
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