It was almost eleven, and she was almost late for church. The day was hinting at being beautiful, regardless of the cold wind - the sun was brighter than it had been all week. Campus was peaceful at this time on weekends, especially the last Sunday of the semester. The only sounds were the faint hum of cars on one of two busy streets in town and the rush of the wind. When she came to a tree, however, a new sound greeted her ears - a rustling. Her first thought was of two squirrels scampering up and down a trunk somewhere, but as her eyes followed the sound, she saw that the tree was too young and small for more than one squirrel at any one time. Instead, she found four or five leaves still rather tenaciously attached to the slight branches. They looked as though their time was coming soon, considering how brown they looked and how much noise they made. A few trees later, she heard the sound again - but this time, it really was two small black squirrels running along a great, old tree. She searched this tree for any remaining leaves, but found none. The only leaves to be found were on the ground.
Thinking back on it later, it occurred to her that those few unfallen leaves were representative of the students on campus. The semester was drawing to a close, final exams were imminent, and at this time of year, those students really had a deathgrip on life. In barely a week, they would let go and fly free and life would be grand.
(Never mind that that grand time would only be a few weeks.)
