The UW Chronicles: Volume VII: I See Dead People and Other Consequences of Going to an Urban School

They found a body. Not of a student, so don't worry. My friend Jessica and I were walking along 45th, past the frat houses through the autumn leaves, when a Seattle police car came screaming up the side walk and screeched to a halt right in front of us. Two others came up behind and the officers stepped out and walked to a wooded area about twenty feet to the left of us, next to a sidewalk that cuts through a little patch of woods on North campus. A bike had been left there, a helmet dangling from the handle bars. I remarked that maybe there was a dead body, and boy, when I saw the silent ambulance stopped at the intersection and the cop cars beginning to block the streets and paths I had a very bad feeling.
We walked down past the squad cars and did our shopping, shampoo, soy milk and the like. We were assaulted four times in about a block and a half, first by a scrawny guy with a scrawny beard asking us to save the children, oh, and give him our debit card numbers while we were at it. Then we walked across the street and began jogging after spotting "La Rouche", a particularly aggressive and very radical leftist newspaper. Ah, but they caught us, a woman exclaiming, "Have you reached your full potential?!" And we both stammered yes, yes we have, "prove it!" she screamed after us. I yelled back, "I'm vegan! And that's good enough for me!" She didn't follow us and we finally got to the bank to deposit some checks.
Then as we walked out a woman approached us saying that her purse had been stolen and that she needed a dollar to get a bus. She obviously didn't own a purse, and the bus costs a dollar twenty. We declined, and sprinted across the street.
Fortunatly we also saw a dancing hot dog on our journey and a message in the sidewalk that said "Go Vegan!" It was quite amazing how much happened to us in the space of about sixty minutes.

After we finished our errands we walked back, passing yellow police tape, and frat boys standing outside their houses, smiling and waving to the news cameras that had arrived. As we passed a police car that blocked an entrance to the woods I said a silent prayer, and thought, well the leaves are turning orange and gold, and the sky is clear and bright, if today was my last day, I don't think I'd mind it. When we got back to the dorm, Erin screamed that a dead body had been found in the woods off of 45th, and we watched footage of the young man's final resting place, where we had been less than ten minutes before. Life is such a strange creature.
The sunset is turning the clouds pink and orange tonight, and the air is still. The cars and buses continue to lurch by, and the trees stand silent, red leaves dangling stiffling from bare branches. The world rumbles on, and today I've come to the realization that it is a very beautiful one.