By: Daniel

It’s that time of year again. Time for smelling the roses from the candles – unlit, of course – in our dorm rooms because we are too busy watching Netflix and pretending to study to actually head outside.

And as I’ve recently learned from my time on the Hello Walk, it’s also the time to finally catch that virgin pinecone.

Personally, I don’t often spend my afternoons standing beneath tall pine trees looking up. But I’d imagine after about an hour, your neck would freeze in that position. Unfortunately, that might be the case for today’s overheard Whitworthians.

Person 1, possibly a senior as identified by the sheer audacity he had to question the person he was walking past, notices Person 2 standing motionless, staring up at the sky just off to the side of the Hello Walk.

Me, walking past Person 2, also glimpses upward to see what he might possibly be staring so intently at. Did he lose his kite in the branches and then throw his shoe up to loosen it and then also lose said shoe? Was it his favorite shoe? Or was it his left shoe?

Person 1: “Trying to catch a pinecone?”

And it all makes sense.

It’s April. Person 2 must either be a freshman desperate for some semblance of Whitworth culture or a senior who has always felt a little behind.

He reeks of desperation.

Person 2: “I’m waitin’.”

Person 1: “Good luck, my man.”

At first I thought, that’s odd, someone standing beneath a tree and just waiting for something to fall from it. But as I kept walking, I noticed half a dozen others standing beneath trees in the Loop, just waiting.

I guess we all have to wait for something.

DISCLAIMER All persons and events in this column—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional. Any overheard names have been changed for the sake of humor. Any resemblance to other stories, people, plants, animals, places or events is purely coincidental.