Straight-leg 501 fire

It is 12:35 and you are out walking the many intersecting sidewalks of your campus. Making your way at your own pace and canter to your next class, your car, your humble abode, your point B. You just may be even walking with a friend or with Beyonce crooning in your ear but the point is that you are walking. About 20 yards up the sidewalk that obviously is filled with other transitional students you see a young man round the corner. He is sporting a pair of 501 jeans and a teal green jacket that looks like it keeps him sufficiently warm. He has got his backpack on, and it’s strapped down tight around his waist and chest but it doesn’t keep it from bouncing, it’s bouncing because he is running. Yes, he is rounding the corner at full gallop, not a brisk walk, or even a speed walk. He is lifting his legs and leaning into the wind while pumping those arms. The sound he is making from all the fabric he is rubbing together and the backpack thumping is not doing anything to help him not attract attention. The whole sidewalk population has noticed his awkward dash and is either gawking or veering off to the side to give this man a straight shot. Why shouldn’t we stare? While the whole surrounding population found a way to adjust their schedule to allow comfortable traveling time, our sprinter decides to see he can start a friction fire in his jeans. It’s a slight offense against the jovial code of student transitional activities. Punishable by the countless faces that will stare at this Olympian hopeful with expressions of misunderstanding and entertainment at his expense. In the end I learnt a great lesson from this sad fast man. If I am late for something I will find a deserted and probably longer forest path of which I can make haste without invited the disdain that I am sure everyone is so willing to stare out, as I was.