| Friday, October 28, 2005 |
| CHAPTER 4
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Kourtnee had just finished her Business Statistics homework. It was 6:00 PM. She was getting hungry. She wanted to go back to the café, but she knew Setrick wouldn’t be there. It was actually fun to have him fawn over her, even if it was his job. She decided against the café.
She sat down on the couch in the living room of her two bedroom apartment. You would have thought that she was a working adult with a good job the way her apartment was decorated. The sofa, love seat, and chair all matched. It was all dark brown. It matched the carpet excellently. Kourtnee couldn’t have furniture that didn’t match the carpet. The end tables and coffee table was strategically placed around the furniture. She had two painting on the wall that accentuated the room excellently. Kourtnee pondered, “What 19 year-old college student has a house full of furniture?,” as she thought about her bedroom. Her full-sized bed, complete with a four drawer dresser, two night stands, and chest almost didn’t fit in the bedroom. It took some creative arranging, but it all fit in the room. Her father had suggested that they take the chest home, but Kourtnee wanted the chest to remain. When she flashed her daddy’s little eyes at her father, he devised a way to make it all fit so that there was walking room.
At that moment, Kourtnee began to feel bad about her lot in life. Why had she been so blessed? Her grandmother’s voice said to her, “Sweetie, God has blessed us and ain’t nothing wrong with that.” Kourtnee felt a little better after that. She decided to just eat something from her fully stocked refrigerator. Her grandfather, Themophilis had went grocery shopping for her.
She walked into the kitchen. She looked in the refrigerator. There were three covered dishes in the box. Her former nanny and current housekeeper, Ramona Jackson, had cooked her some meals and given them to her. She took out the one marked chicken and rice. She heated it up in the meal that included green peas in the microwave.
Kourtnee sat down on the couch facing the TV to eat her meal. She turned the TV on. She ate her meal in solitude. Was this to be her destiny, always eating alone?
Colt was sitting in his Chemistry 528 class. His professor, Dr. Edward Alston, III was up talking. Dr. Alston was a short, balding man. His light brown face was home to a full beard that included a connecting mustache and sideburns. He had on a pair of blue slacks and a light blue shirt with a red tie. He spoke with a sight drawl. You could tell he was from the south. He talked with quickly. You had to pay close attention to what he said. Dr. Alston was a premiere professor of Chemistry. He was a highly sought after speaker. It was an honor to be in his class.
Colt had the lab for the class after the class. They would be doing experiments in the class. It was going to be a wonderful experience. Colt was looking forward to performing more advanced experiments.
Chemistry was finally over. He headed to his lab class. It was around the corner from the classroom. Oddly enough, in the same room number as his class. The class was in room 108 and the lab was in lab room 108. Colt chuckled at the coincidence.
There were 12 students in the lab room. It had a capacity for 16 students. The lab instructor walked into the room. It was a lady. She stood about 5 feet 6 inches. She had on a black shirt and a white lab coat. Even with her hair back in a ponytail and in glasses, she was a beautiful woman. she stood at the front of the room as if she was allowing the men to get over the fact that their lab instructor was a beautiful woman. after about two minutes, she said, “I am Dana Haddon. I will be your lab instructor this semester. This will be a learning experience that you will enjoy, if you participate and get involved. If you have any questions about science, you can always ask me.” She said the last sentence with a matter of factness that let the men know that there wouldn’t be any hanky panky going on.
The lab was finally over. Colt headed for his apartment. He shared the apartment with a roommate. He wished that he would have requested to meet his roommate prior to getting one. This guy was eccentric, to say the least. He was really borderline weird. The roommate was a geek of magnanimous proportion. The guy only talked about science. To top it all off, the guy talked on the phone nearly all the time. He was a quiet guy for the most part. He spoke very softly. It was a wonder that the person on the other end of the phone could hear him. Colt was definitely going to have to get a second phone line in the house. After Colt thought about his roommate, he didn’t feel like going home. He decided to go to the student center and hang out for awhile.
Paula sat in her room. She had put off calling Rick for the last 20 minutes. Paula had picked up the phone and put it down so many times that her skinny, stuck up roommate had left the room in a huff after mumbling what Paula knew was a few choice curse words. Paula ignored her roommate and continued to stare at the phone.
The phone rung and startled her into reality. She picked up the receiver.
“Hello.”
“Hey, it’s Rick.”
“Hey.”
“Hey, are you still mad at me?”
Paula sucked her teeth. Rick let out a sigh. He was tired. He didn’t like to fight with Paula because the girl could hold a grudge. You could tell that she was holding a grudge, too.
“Paula. You know I didn’t mean what I said the way that you took it.”
“Well, you said it and I took it the way I took it.”
Rick knew that this wasn’t going to be easy. Paula hated anyone questioning her Christianity. That wasn’t what Rick had done anyway. He had just said that she could be a better witness for the Lord. He said it because he wanted her to go out with him and help pass out tracks. Rick had prayed before he called Paula. Maybe he should have prayed a little longer because her heart had not softened any.
“Mrs. Greene told me that you had been in the cafeteria. She said that you ate meatloaf. She laughed when she said that you smelled your food, like you always do.”
“What does that have to do with what we are talking about, Rick?”
“Nothing. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything. You are one mean woman. I’ll talk to you later.”
Rick hung up the phone. Paula was shocked. Rick had never said anything like that to her and he had never hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Paula was furious. How dare he hang up the phone in her face? She wanted to call him back and tell him off, but she remember Mrs. Greene’s words, “Stop being mean.”
Paula swallowed her pride, which was hard to do. She called Rick. The phone rung for the longest time. Paula thought that Rick wasn’t going to pick up the phone. She was about to hang up when Rick’s voice came through the ear piece. He sounded upset when he spoke. Paula had never heard him sound upset. Rick was always even tempered and happy. Paula decided to put a little sweetness in her voice as Mrs. Greene had suggested.
“What did you eat at lunch today?”
“Food,”
“I know that boy. What kind of food?”
“The kind you eat with a knife and fork.”
“Are you going to be more specific?”
“Nope, woman, I’m not.”
“That’s cool. Did you and Treshon go out and pass out tracks?”
Rick paused for a minute. He was wondering why Paula was being so sweet. He was even more baffled that she had asked about Treshon. Paula didn’t care for Treshon too much. He was a bit extreme when it came to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Treshon had told Rich that she would break up with Paula because she wasn’t saved. Why was this girl asking about someone that she did not like?
“Girl, know you know you don’t even like Treshon, why you asking about him?”
“Don’t know just asked.”
“Yea, whatever. You are up to something. Why you being so sweet?”
“I am just being myself. I am sweet when I want to be.”
“You got that right, when you want to be.”
“Boy, please. You know you like when I am sweet.”
Rick had to laugh because when Paula was sweet, she was the sweetest person you could possibly know.
“Yea, girl I like it when you are sweet. So, are you still mad at me?”
“A little. What did you mean to say to me?”
“I just wanted you to go out and pass out tracks with me. I didn’t mean to question your walk with God. I was just suggesting that you could do something as a Christian.”
“Well, why didn’t you just ask me to go with you?”
“Girl, I don’t know.”
Paula laughed her jovial laugh. Rick loved to hear Paula laugh like that. He knew that she wasn’t mad at him anymore. He apologized and they began a three hour conversation. |
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