Chapter 1: The Cafeteria

I remember when I was attending Emmanuel College.  I had gotten in on a prayer, and was quickly sliding out on a magical carpet with "$0" symbols printed on it (in cheap ink, of course).  Things were difficult, and it wasn't a good day.  I decided to try making the best of it by calling my boyfriend and bugging him into coming to dinner with me at the cafeteria.  I was tired of eating alone at the tables while watching the "in" crowd laughing and talking over their own dinners.  It had been a rough year, and my schedule and homework had rendered me unsocial beyond my suitemates and my boyfriend.  Ah yes... the boyfriend.  He was rude and cynical, and growing more annoyed with me by the day.  I was with him because I felt more secure in a relationship than without one at the time.  I’m happy to say that I’ve since grown out of that to a certain degree.

I sat down with my dinner.  I was worn out and rather angry and upset.  Things were getting really bad, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to finish out the semester.  This was going to be a huge blow to my ego, not to mention that the boyfriend didn't really even want to be there.  I had worked really hard to get him to leave his game console and war games to eat with me.  I was drained.  My limit had been reached a few weeks earlier, but here I was still plugging along. 

The people milling around us were the last of the hungry.  The stragglers of the campus who waited until the last minute to eat.  Some goofy looking guy I'd seen around a couple times before was making his way toward our table.  I shot him a look meant to chase him off.  He ignored it.  This was new.  Most guys got the "GO AWAY!!!!" memo and would have altered their course the split second they saw that glare.  I decided to try to talk to boyfriend.  He was trying to rush through his plate of food.  Apparently he really needed to practice his "mad skills" a bit more before he'd reach "total beast" status in his gaming.  No matter that he was going to stay up the entire night and avoid all classes the next day just so that he could accomplish this goal.

Goofy was still plowing through the seating area.  I wondered how much self-control it was going to take me not to punch this intruder in the face.  There was still some hope that he would avert his pathway in the opposite direction, but from the look on his face, I had a feeling that hope was nil.

“Is anybody sitting here?” he asked us, answering his own question by seating himself without waiting for a reply or invitation.  How rude.  Get the memo and go away already.  Suddenly I found myself at the head of a table (which is how it should be should it not?) sandwiched between Boyfriend and Goofy.  I soon discovered that Goofy was just what I’d feared.  Oh, he wasn’t just any treasure.  He was a special kind of silly.  One of those guys who has no long-term memory whatsoever unless it has something to do with his favorite comedian.  So he began regaling the snaggle-tooth and the princess with every joke he could possibly remember.  Each joke ended in a pointed look toward me or maybe even a confirmation of whether or not I had “gotten it”.  Would he ever shut up?  I just hoped he realized we weren’t best buds just because he gave me a few fake laughs (I wasn’t in the mood).  I didn’t even know him!  This was my boyfriend’s friend.

As the newcomer told yet another joke, Boyfriend decided to go rogue on him and make a cynical remark.  I remember thinking, “OHHHHhhhhhhhh…burn… but he didn’t deserve all of that…poor Goofy.”  And that was the first somewhat kind thought I had toward the guy I didn’t know… some kid I’d cruelly labeled ‘Goofy’.  Someone I didn’t know, and therefore, had no right to label.  I felt bad…sort of.  Okay, so I didn’t feel as awful as I should have at first.  But that was because I felt he’d asked for it to begin with.  Little did I know that my thoughts and feelings would change before twelve more months spun our little no-consequence world of petty issues into something so much happier.