English Major

One sentence:

I met an English major today we talked about Jesus.

One Paragraph:

I sat down and had a interesting conversation with a young lady who is attending Howard university's graduate program. She was telling me how difficult it was, and she let me look over the class syllabus and the papers and things expected from the students. It actually took my very best reading skills to understand what was being expected. We talked mostly about our faith in Jesus, and some of our experiences in different churches and what it has been like living for God.

One Page:

It all started when she leaned over the counter and smiled at me. “Can I place my bag over here while I look for a book I....” she continued to speak but I stopped listening.

I hate it when people see I am in the middle of attending to a customer and still feel as if their issue is so great, or in most cases so small that I can stop what I am doing to attend to them. So I let the young lady know that I would help her as soon as I finish the drink. She smiled and said okay. I knew that I had seen the girl before, her voice, and the way she wore her hair were familiar to me.

When I finished helping the customer I gave her my attention. She repeated her issue, and I looked at her with an expression of remorse. “Look, we really cant be held responsible to look after people's stuff, I wouldn’t advise you to leave it out here, but this time I will look after it, if you put it behind the counter..” and I pointed in the direction she could put her stuff. “But I just don’t want you to get into the habit of doing that.” I felt funny saying that last part to her, and I didn’t know why

She nodded and said she understood. She then proceeded to tell me about the book she was looking for and why she was looking for it. I was surprised that she was so chatty, but then again people seem to tell me why they are looking for books and what the book is about rather than the title or just simply an author name. As if I need to know that you need a certain book for class, the title and author will do just fine. What also surprised me about her, is that for her level of attractiveness she seemed down to earth and didn’t mind talking. So I helped the best I could given what I knew on the topic, told her we wouldn’t have the book she was looking for but she was free to search, and I told her where and how.

She thought over all I had explained, thanked me and sat down. I remembered her name, and when it was close to time for me to leave on break I walked over to where she sat and said

“Jasmine, I am about to go on break so if you are going to put your bags up, I wont be there to watch over them.”

She thanked me and said she would look for the book at a later time, and then I saw 'Invisible man' on the table. I picked it up, without even asking her if it was okay, and started thumbing through it. I actually saw her eyes light up at the my interest in the book, so I asked.

“Is it for class?” she said yes, and started into a long monologue, telling me she was a English major going for her graduate degree at Howard. She shared a lot with me about schooling and her paper, I didn’t mind. It is always captivating to watch someone talk about a topic they feel so passionately about. I took at seat at her table and we talked about the black race, and then we talked about Jesus. She asked me what made me change, after I told her some of the stuff I got into.

“Wow, you don’t look the type, what made you change?”

I smiled, and looked her in the eye and said “Jesus.”

We sat there for my entire lunch break sharing testimonies about our lives, talking about the churches that we have gone to, just anything that had to do with God. It was good being around another Christian, who saw the world as bad and misguided as I do. It was also kinda cool getting to hear a Brooklyn accent. She asked me “what are those gifts?” when I told her I feel as if God has given me certain gifts for his glory.

I told her I am a writer and out of my back pocket I pulled out five pages of my latest novel and handed them to her. She took them with a smile and promised to read them after she completed her paper which was due the next day. I gave her my email and asked her for her critique. We talked for a little bit longer, about DC and little things like that. She admitted she was not familiar with the area and I told her that if she wanted I would show her around town. She laughed at this and said “aiight.”

I got up out of the chair gave her a smile and said “take it easy, ya?” and returned to work.