Cosy Corner

Those of you who know me may know that I rarely take an escalator. What can I say? Today I was weak. I had a date with the Cosy Corner and I was excited to get there ASAP. Let this be a lesson to you all. "Preventative Maintenance" sure is an uncommonly apt name for it!Finally, there was the corner, beckoning to me. I ran with arms outstretched, despite the odd looks from passing students.

The years had not been kind. While my memories of it remain bright and clear, age and disuse had caused a pallor to descend on the place. The sound of my boots echoed a dull thud as I inspected the area.

At least the fire escape was as I remembered it. Alas the door had cobwebs stretching across the threshold. I reverently stroked them aside as I recalled many hasty exits, vaulting me from darkness to sunlight.

I looked around and was unable to find a place to sit -- save the stairs and even then , the angle was all wrong -- the air not quite right...

Just then, I was struck with a solution to my problem.
Dusty it was in that place and hot, but I felt a presence, something I have not felt since...

A familiar, nostalgic feeling washed over me. Leaping down, I dusted off my filth covered blacks, grabbed my coat and bag and ran up the stairs. Once again, I wouldn't be going to class today.

It is a rare day when I do something new on campus. I thought I had done all the things there that I wanted to do at least once.

The snow was fresh and even and the students were avoiding the larger patches with strange reverence. The pure white obviously contrasting with the bile resting heavy on their melancholy spirits. Then I made my mark. Already indelibly woven in the unlit spaces of my gray-matter, now for all to read -- to take from it what they would.

Flush with success, I looked for a way to record the event. A rusting fire escape caught my attention. One that I had always by-passed as being too visible to be of use -- especially in the middle of the day on a crowded campus. This day it was cold and most students were lounging inside during their midday torpor. Seizing the moment and the rungs, I clambered up three short and unsteady ladders until I had achieved the summit.