THE ALUMNI WHO LOVED ME

'S

n my first day at the university,and it seemed all of the negative luck was falling on me today.I sighed again and apologised to the lady again. "I'm sorry for hitting your cup. I can't afford to pay for your shirt right now,but maybe you can give me a call later."I sighed and brought out a piece of paper and wrote down my number. "Please,I have to go do my clearance. Once again,I apologize."I said bowing my head slightly and then I started to walk away. She stood there looking dumb founded but right now I had to get my clearance done and get my dorm assigned to me before hostels space finishes. Then I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and I turned gently this time around to avoid hitting somebody's coffee or tea,when my eyes met the face of the lady whose coffee I had just spilled. "I had tapped on your shoulder to apologize on behalf of Christiana." She said with a very soft voice. I wondered who Christiana was and the look of confusion must have been so imminent on my face,for she continued. "The secretary at the receptionist table." And I nodded. Oh so the rude unhappy grumpy mother of a stubborn kid's name was Christiana? A nice name for someone with an angry face,I thought to myself. "So the point is,I'm not gonna feel okay,if I don't take care of your burn,so follow me." She said and took my hand. I looked at her,wondering if I was ever gonna get my clearance done at this rate with all this side distractions. I looked at the direction she was taking me into and realized that it was the same direction that Ma'am Christiana had directed me too. I followed her quietly as we climbed the steps. We got to the floor where the Faculty of Social sciences had their offices and she led me to the department of economics. I looked at her face slowly wondering what all this coincidences were,and she just smiled and led me to a seat. "Sit here,I'll go get the first aid box." She said with a small smile and I nodded slowly. She walked into a small dark room,and my mind was occupied with the beauty of the office and the coincidence that had just happened. Could she be a staff here? Or the Dean herself? Or the Dean's daughter? Or what? Maybe I might not be having the bad luck I thought I was experiencing after all. I thought to myself,when she emerged from the dark room with the First aid box. She brought a cotton wool with an Iodine solution and some rubber gloves to work with. "Here stretch your hand." She said and I stretched it. "This Is gonna sting a little. Hope you aren't a cry baby?" She asked teasingly. "No,I'm not." I said and she laughed. "Okay if you say so." She said and then poured a little bit of methyl spirit on a blob of cotton wool. "Oh,the burn has spread. You must have sensitive skin." She said and then cleaned the burn surface with the methyl spirit soaked cotton wool. It stung a lot,but I held it in,in order to not be the cry baby. She then cleaned the surface with Iodine. Then she brought a plaster,that kind of matched with my skin colour.She put the plaster on my skin and then removed the rubber gloves that she was wearing. "All done." She said with a wide smile and that smile was very contagious,as I smiled back in appreciation. "Thank you very much." I said and she nodded her head and then looked at my coffee stained clothes and smacked her head. "Ah ha. One more thing."She said and went to another corner of the office. "What's your favourite colour?" She asked. "Red." I replied simply wondering what she was gonna use that information for. She rummaged through a bag that looked like it contained T-shirts and brought a red coloured NYU shirt after a one minute long search. "I think this would size you." She said facing me,and then she walked and motioned for me to stand up. She placed the T-shirt on my body,nodded her head in approval and then said,"Okay,you go into the bathroom,and then change your shirt.And don't you worry about me. I always have an extra shirt." She said winking at me and I smiled. I entered into the bathroom and then I changed into the shirt she gave me. The NYU was boldly written on it and somehow it gave the nostalgic feeling of being a student in a university. I