Thursday Afternoon Fix

Every Thursday afternoon since September, I've spent a few hours in the same hallway as the director, the director's assistant and the counselor of a certain academic department on campus.

In the fall, for the first hour and a half of my two hour time slot in my little office across from theirs, I was too engrossed in discussing the Puritans and Alexander Hamilton and the 3/5 clause to get to do too much listening. But I still had my half an hour after the students left to do nothing but observe... mostly with my ears. Since January, I have not had a single student come see me (hopefully that will change...but for the time being I don't mind it) giving me two hours of pure listening and wondering and smiling and thinking about the situations and dilemmas of the three main characters-- the director, A., the director's assistant, J., and the counselor, M., whose lives unfold in front of me, or really across from me (within hearing range but outside of my vision) every Thursday afternoon.

It's like a television program and they are the stars. And every week a new and assorted cast of secondary characters guest star (mostly other professors and students). I don't know too much about their lives-- just that M. seems to be the busiest both inside and outside the office; when not seeing students he is either consulting with A. or discussing students or courses on the phone, and he always seems to have after work plans (last week he was having dinner with his mom and brother, and the week before seeing a movie with his girlfriend). A. seems very kind and maternal and usually spends the afternoon typing away on her computer or planning future events. She also smiles at me, without fail, every week as she walks by and looks in my open door. J. is cheerful and talkative and insists each week on calling out to A. and then reading aloud or relaying stories from funny emails she seems to perpetually receive.

Though I can count on M., A., and J. to be there each week, it's hard because the things that were the topic of conversation the week before have long since been resolved or put away. I hate how I end up missing so much of what goes on. I only get these little glimpses into their lives; I get a super saturated version of character development; and I constantly have questions from the previous week which I know (and must accept) will forever go unanswered.

A few times I have contemplated going by on a Monday or Wednesday afternoon, just to catch an extra episode and maybe help fill in some of the gaps. But I ultimately always decide against it as I think it would ruin some of the charm. Maybe I'd see M., or A., or J. do something seemingly out of character, something I wouldn't want to see and I'd start to view them in a whole different way. Or maybe I'd start liking them even more and would want to go by the office every weekday afternoon. So I've concluded that for the time being, I'll take what I can get and be content that at least I have my Thursday afternoons.