How UB’s Pond Could Be in a Day
I stood up from the stone curb of the S Block building. She had arrived, and not a moment too soon. “I just reach”, came her explanation. I stood up and we walked towards each other, two unknown people trying to meld together for the first time. “Let’s take a stroll around campus” I said. To enjoy the beauty around us, that we often took for granted during our hectic rushes to class. So we began, the two of us stepped towards the big tree between the D Block and S Block. Ultimately, this is where we decided to start, almost as though we were called in by the size and sway of it. I asked her what she thought of our first stop, but she sighed, little, and motioned her brown body with a hesitance. Her bright, dark eyes looked at the Blocks, with the sharpness of one trying to sort out their thoughts. But who didn’t want to reveal them yet. I gave her this time to say what she really wanted. I was quite surprised. Monica Chandler.
What she really gravitated towards, however, was the people. To her, the people were an interesting sight that she had noticed everyday, but had only just begun to look at, and she thought them a constant rush of motion at times. People hurrying to and fro, in a desperate attempt to reach their classes. But today, it seemed rather empty, with not as many people as she was used to in the blocks. Many moved at a leisurely pace, which was almost strange for her, as she knew it to be bustling. They must not have class today. “Otherwise they would have been walking faster” Monica supplied. Or maybe they were early, and that explained their slow, placid lumberings from the car lots.
Where were they coming from? Where were they going? These and other mysteries had to wait as we, evenly, paced to the pool. Monica did not have much thoughts about the pool. Only that to her, in comparison to her former school, it was quite small. The water, obviously a dyed see-through, light blue, was also unimpressive. “Kinda cool, everything’s appropriate for the place I guess.” We moved on.
The pond truly was some of our best moments. Monica became more of herself. It was her favourite place to come, there were all manner of creatures and sights in there. Dark-greenish tadpoles swimming, without father or mother This was suspicious, as she could never see any frogs. Big and baby turtles, alike, all of them swam towards us. For food. Those were Monica’s thoughts. So we endeavoured to feed them. We walked from the lush, green, grassy side of the pond around to the light, tannish, rocky edge where two koi fish were spotted. One a shining orange. The other a white, with Fanta orange spots. Who put all of these creatures here? In the Caribbean of all places! Anyway, the turtles, who followed us, needed to be fed. “Wendy’s” she offered. And, as I had no ideas, to Wendy’s we went. It was uneventful, and impressed neither of us. But after so many stops, the food chain had lost its luster.
However, the trees we encountered along the way were what caught our attention most, as they reminded Monica of her large backyard. Tamer. Definitely man-made, in terms of how they are placed and cared for. A lot less variety than what she was used to, only palms, great trees, and small bushes.
We had long since passed Michael H. Eldon building, a social science building that, strangely, housed literature classes, and math classes. It almost never housed the classes it was meant to, but peeled its dark red and white paint with regular consistency. Seems we both had the same experience. It was open, something that never happened with regular consistency. Seems we both had that same experience. It was open, something that never happened until 9:00 a.m. A jumbled, but fondly remembered , building of contradictions.
After Wendy’s, we took a breather to view UB Library. Beautiful and scholarly, as the dome on top of the building intended to make it look. The golden letters and large glass helped with this, accenting the white and cream color of its walls. Yet, it was time to head back. By the time we reached, the turtles had returned and were greeted with the promised French fries. And nothing else.