Fall Sets Up Shop

So the uncomfortably warm season we all call "Indian Summer" has set to flight at last, and fall proper is now upon us. The rain the past few days helped greatly. Waking up to the pitter-patter of drops on the sidewalk 12 feet below you is always a pleasant way to wake up... except that it rarely helps the getting out of bed portion of the morning, which usually follows waking up.

Some of the more extravagant and vain leaves changed colors early, sometime in early September, but most are still clinging to immortality and refusing to lose their grip on the oaks that line the very crooked streets of Moscow, Idaho. I don't blame them. If my life span were only in the single digits, I'd cling to my last few moments of life a little longer too.

The buses buzz around the small granary town like over-fat bumblebee drones hovering around a bee hive, ferrying people from the outer edges of town into the small, yet quaint downtown.

The downtown is harsh to small businesses though. It's a great spot for hippies and hipsters to chill, grab a cup of coffee, smoke some weed and show off how culturally relevant they are.

Pitter-patter. The rain soaks the rabidly thirsty ground. Pitter-patter. Feet in the puddles.

Even the people that sell weed are having a hard time. The corner shop at 6th and Main just shut down. Its preferred facade was pretending that it was a flower/gift shop. The odd hours gave it away though. I always knew they sold a lot more than your average roses and daisies. But hard times fall on the druggie and the sober alike. Mikey's gyros are more addictive anyway. A hippie can do without drugs as long as he can get his fix of organic Greek food.

There are a lot of twenty-somethings wandering around downtown in robes. If it weren't for the midwest/northwest American feel of the town, you might guess that you were wandering around the set of the latest Harry Potter movie. But it's just the NSA students. No, not National Security Agency, but New Saint Andrews... a name that was not so subtly plagiarized from a college across the pond with the same name.

It would take a lot to explain where New Saint Andrews College came from, where it's going and why it's still around. Suffice to say that they run on the quarter system, having four terms of eight weeks each every year. Hence, now is final exams.

The leaves dry up on the ground as the sun comes out. The warmth, however, doesn't come back. I feel like I'm stepping on Lay's chips every foot I put forward. Now I'm craving salt.

Three exams down, three to go.