Good Conversations

I set out on my mission, walking out of the library and heading towards the Olson Student Center. On my way there, I encountered a man sitting on the bench by the fountain, with his eyes closed and looked to be enjoying the beautiful day.

I tapped him on the shoulder a couple of times and introduced myself and what I was here to do. Surprisingly, he wasn’t upset that I interrupted his peaceful afternoon snooze.

He introduced himself as Sam Petersen, a senior political science and business double major. He also said it’s been a stressful day, and he just needed a minute to sit down by himself.

I then asked him for what I was searching for: a favorite Morningside memory.

The question seemed to catch Petersen off-guard. He sat there for a bit, seemingly lost in thought. After a bit, it seemed as if he settled on an answer.

“I would have to say going to the 2018 Football National Championship game in Daytona Beach, Florida.”

Petersen, at the time a member of the Morningside marching band, was invited to go and black at halftime of the game.

“It was fun because we got to see the football team win the national championship, and I was able to show off my trombone skills at halftime.”

After this, we parted ways, and I was on to get my next victim.

I had class in Lewis Hall next, but before going to class I went downstairs to use the restroom. This is where I found the next person.

Just as I am heading downstairs, I encounter someone walking out of the restroom. I stopped him, introduced myself, and stated I needed to ask him a question.

Again, he didn’t seem to be angry that he was stopped just after using the restroom. An outgoing person, he introduced himself as Alex Freeman, a junior business and political science double-major.

After some small talk, I posed my question to him: tell me your favorite knock-knock joke.

Freeman initially laughed at this, thinking I was joking. I assured him I was in fact not joking, even showing him the paper with the words “knock-knock joke” appearing on it. He couldn’t believe it.

“I for sure thought you were going to ask me something serious,” Freeman explained, stifling a few giggles.

After spending some time thinking, he initiated the joke.

“Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?

“Ach.”

“Ach who?”

“God bless you.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. I was trying to follow the joke, but the ending entirely caught me off-guard.

After telling him what a good joke he had and sharing a couple more laughs, I parted ways and went up to my class.