Andy

My eight am class was cancelled. I could have had an extra hour of sleep. I climbed back down the stair case and out into the frigid morning air toting my book bag and coffe and wondering what I was going to do for the next hour. Going back to the dorm without running the risk of falling asleep was nearly impossible. I decided to set up base in the student lounge until my next class started. I'd been there for a good fourty mintues before they walked in. I noticed him first. His hair was a platinum blonde and his eyes a soulful brown. From the moment he entered the room I was his. She was older, with a hardened look to her face. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown. They sat across fro me in an empty room full of chairs. He diligently waited on her to be seated then sat himself. After a few quiet moments I had to make my presence known. "what's his name?" I asked. Obviously I had startled her. She apologized for not knowing I was there, and introduced me to Mr. Tibbs. I commented on his good behavior, and we talked a moment about his skill as a service dog. I was about to go back to my note cards when she spoke again. She told me that although the students at our college knew Mr. Tibbs by name, no one had ever taken the time to find out her name. I could hear the loneliness in her voice as she introduced herself, Andy. In the twenty mintues I had left before class I learned that Andy had lost her sigh eighteen months beforehand. She was a truck driver before that, and now was going back to school to recieve her bachelor's in English with a concentration in professional writing. Andy told me of the church she joined, of the weight she'd gained, and of how getting up and attending class changed her. It let her out of the house, and let her talk to real people. As the clock reached nine am, Andy and I said our goodbyes. As a fellow English Major I was sure I was going to see her again. She asked that I introduced myself, because it would take time for her to learn my voice, when she said this her phrasing caught me off guard... "...If Iever wanted to speak to her again.." as if I wouldn't want to talk to her after this morning. Somethign about the wording she chose touched my humanity. I vowed from that point on that everytime I would see Andy I would make it a point to talk to her. By the end of the conversation I had all but forgotten Mr. Tibbs, the adorable yellow lab, but Andy had left an imprint on my heart.