Once Upon a Time

Not quite so long ago, on a campus not so far away....

A business student hikes her backpack up on her shoulders and disembarks from her minivan in the parking lot under the hot Georgia summer sun. She puts her keys into the lock and turns it, hearing the satisfying click.

She walks across the pavement, eager to change out of her work clothes into something more comfortable: a t-shirt and shorts she's stowed in her bag. Before she arrives at her destination, she diverts into the student center and finds a bathroom to change in. Already feeling cooler by the time she finishes changing, she almost runs to meet her friends outside.

The gathering is small but growing steadily under the shade of the trees around a picnic table by the volleyball court. She greets her friends and feels excitement, because this meeting is only the prelude to a promised game of Ultimate Frisbee out on the green.

As she makes her rounds in greeting, she begins to inquire as to the actual Frisbee disc. To her dismay, no one remembered to bring one. Despair begins to settle over those eager to play Frisbee.

Just then, when all hope seemed lost, a friend crossing the campus calls the student's name. She hails him, feeling a lift in her heart.

They exchange "hello and how are you"s and then she explains their problem. Without waiting so much as a blink, he thrusts his schoolbooks toward her and exclaims that he has a disc in his truck as he races away.

Mere moments later, he returns, breathless but with a Frisbee in his hand. Before anything else happens, the happy students are running about under the sun, playing the game they'd been anticipating for weeks.

Indeed, it was a happy coincidence!