Conversations

With Mario, of course (after all, who else would I be talking about)

As I emerged from the library this morning- not carrying my lunchbox, as I had left it sitting under the table, where I would have to retrieve it during lunch, after canvassing my morning classrooms in search of the elusive lunchbox, from beneath the bag of an entirely unaware freshman- I spotted Mario. He standing at the corner before the guidance department, (sorry for the tangency about the lunchbox, but we were reading those Bulwer-Lytton sentences during English today, and it's left me a wee bit loquacious), and talking to somebody (no, I can't remember who).

I looked at him, checking for the brief moment of eye contact that precludes a "Hi" or a wave (I'm always horrible embarrassed when other people don't notice me waving to them, so I do my best to notice others). I can't remember if he spotted me or not (what? it's been a long day! *it's been a long been a long been a long been a long daaaayyy*), but his conversation looked like it was ending, and he was angled in the direction I was going, so I slowed my walking (not that I was moving very fast in the first place, as Gretchen would surely tell you) on the off chance that he went the same way.

Just after I had *ahem* breezed by, he finished talking and started walking. I turned to wait for him and said, "Hi."

"Hi," he responded. "What's up."

"Math test. First period."

"Oh. Me too."

I looked at him, puzzled. "You definitely don't have math period eight. You used to, but now you don't. Right?"

"Oh. Um." He seemed a bit taken aback by my intimate knowledge of his schedule (I only know two or three classes. Honest!) "A.P. test. For calc. Probably hard, but um, fine, really."

"Oh. Well, good luck."

"Yeah, I should be fine. Not that hard really." He started to turn.

"Bye!"

"Bye." He kept walking for a step or two before turning. "Thanks." I think he said for the good luck after that, or something, but the problem with stories that take place before 7:30 a.m. is that I really have trouble remembering the dialogue. Unlike my discussion with Rube, which I transcribed almost word-for-word two days later, these early morning things are far more difficult to keep track of. It's a pity, really.