Earthquake Daydreams « The Mixtape Letters

Earthquake Daydreams

It’s the kind of low rumbling that tires your ears without being the least bit painful—a sound that you feel far more than hear.

The University I attend (and we’ll use the term “attend” rather loosely here), is built directly atop a rather nasty geologic fault. I’ve been told that the fault runs directly below the visiting team’s seating of our football stadium. I’ve often daydreamed of the earth opening wide and swallowing whole the opposing team mid-victory celebration, and our scrappy team subsequently winning by forfeiture. I’m not exactly sure just what the rules are regarding indefinite game delay by way of the biblical annihilation of the opposing team, however; it might actually go in the books as a draw. I’ll have to check into it.

Anyway, having lived in the area for the greater portion of my life, I’ve received all the grade-school earthquake training that one would expect. Perhaps you know the sort: Crawl under your desk, assume the fetal position, and wait for the world to collapse around you. And so I thought myself prepared for the eventuality.

There I was, failing a quiz, when that deep, dark rumbling began. I looked at my fellow classmates to ensure myself that I had not just finally snapped, but that something was, in fact, awry. The uncertainty in my classmates’ eyes slowly turned to worry. For a brief moment, I too was anxious, but then peace overcame me. The thought literally occurred to me that even a fiery death by magma could be no worse that the quiz I was currently taking. Worry turned to hope, and I sat for a moment, eagerly awaiting the worst.

Nothing happened. I failed my quiz. My favorite building on campus (the old foreign language building) had been demolished by a wrecking ball in order to make way for a new, sate-of-the-art reason to yet again increase my tuition.

-mixtape