Just One Little Mistake
Being the day for my final Russian exam, after one complete school-calendar year of intensive studies, 1 July 2005 was a day to remember. I woke up very early in the morning, took my breakfast, and started preparing for the oral exam in Russian language. About an hour before the exam, I decided to leave for the institute. Since it was just an oral exam, I did not carry my bag with me, but only a pen and a CD Player. When I left the hostel, I noticed that I took a wrong CD; it had no songs at all. Instead of going back to change it, since I had enough time (I needed only 20 minutes to get to the institute) and I was just outside the hostel, I pretended I was too busy for that, and left for my institute with a sleeping CD Player in my pocket.
Along the way to the institute I met a friend of mine who also had an exam this same day. So, after greeting one another, we started walking together. Just outside our institute, we saw a lady advertising Axe Gravity deodorant body spray. The lady was in an orange T-Shirt, black trousers and had an orange cap. She was a blonde, had rosy cheeks and was putting on a very charming smile. She was definitely Russian, and probably under twenty. My friend, having noticed the lady and her captivating smile, turned and started talking to her. As for me, I decided, once again, to play my heroic game: I lifted my nose higher and looked straight ahead, so that my friend, or the beautiful lady, wouldn’t have a chance to call me back. I thought I did a cool thing; I felt like a young scientist who had time only for his studies; until my friend came with a bottle of Axe Gravity deodorant body spray that the lady had given him. I was so embarrassed, but I still did not go back to the lady in orange and black to get myself one also.
When we entered the institute, we were required, as at any other time like this, to show our student cards in order to enter the building. My friend entered, but I remained outside, because I had forgotten my student card in my bag which I left in the hostel. I called my dean and explained the situation, but she insisted that I had to go back and get my student card since there was still enough time remaining before the exam. So I went back to the hostel.
When I entered my room, I began by changing the CD that was in my player, and then took my bag, after making sure that the student card was inside. As I was walking to the institute, drowning in the music from my CD player, I met the lady in orange and black. She still had the rosy cheeks I had noticed before and she was still putting on that charming smile; it seemed to me as magnetic as the force of gravity; you could go as far from it as you wished, but you still had to come back to the image of that charming smile. Remembering what she had given my friend, I turned and started talking with her. She recognized me, flashed her breath-taking blue eyes on me, asked me a few questions and then, smiling as though to completely melt my poor bones in my legs which were hardly being supportive at this moment, gave me an Axe Gravity deodorant body spray. I said no word; the only thing my mind was capable to think of at this moment was to invite the lady to dinner. I gave her a bright smile; then, slowly, but full of satisfaction, went and entered the institute with music in my ears and a bottle of Axe Gravity deodorant body spray in my bag. By the way, I passed my exam with an excellent mark!