It’s all familiar, the rush of legs around the quad – the first day of school. Students of various shapes and sizes, moulds and designs, styles and gait, traipsing all over what a few weeks ago was just a quiet neighbourhood of a few teachers and construction workers. Now, the peace is over and the devil of rote is back. The pandora’s box has been open and won’t be restrained anymore until sometime in the dead of winter. Yes, here we go again.
For me, my last Fall semester in this haunted place as a student, it will soon get pretty busy and, eventually, quiet. Unfortunately, as I have experienced very many times over, approaching the end doesn’t always bring as much of a thrill as exaggerated expectations usually hopes it would. Maybe the thrill is more in the process than in the end itself.
It eventually looked like all my symptoms were the normal, non-alarmist ones. So he asked me to lie down shirt off while he poked his hands on my abdomen where all of my vital organs were: liver, spleen and colon. No problem. He examined my ears, and eyes. No problem. “The good news”, he said eventually, “is that there’s nothing here. You’re fine. The bad news however, is that I can’t give you anything to make you feel better without complicating it with other side-effects. I’d just say take a whole lot of fluids and rest. It could be one of the many common viral infections that will wear itself out in a couple of days, usually in a maximum of five. If you still feel worse after then, then run back here. And no Aspirins either. If you want anything, take Tylenol.”