There was Betty, swinging her long pig tail, telling me that everything was fine. She was her usual perky self, cheerful, bouncy, and full of the Irish wit she inherited from her mum. There she was, assuring me that anytime I needed help, she would be there for me.
Betty was a senior while I was in my freshman year. Why she would deign to notice a quiet and needy foreign student, I still do not know. It must be her deep seated kindness and willingness to care for the underdog. That day I broke the test-tube and dropped concentrated acid on the work bench, it was Betty who came to my rescue. She deftly picked up the glass pieces and threw paper napkins to absorb the few drops of spill. She encouraged me by saying that were I not part of the class, she had nothing to look forward to on Wednesdays. It was having me around that liven things up. Otherwise it was such a drag that she did not want to get up at all.
I was such a clumsy person, I dropped things, I kept things that were supposed to be thrown but threw things I would need for the next part of the experiment. Whatever genuine mistakes you could possibly conceive of, I probably had made them before. Without a doubt, I was possibly the only student who would need five hours of intense effort to complete a routine experiment others breezed through in three hours. My professor, Dr. Carol, was patience itself. When others finished, she would ask how much more time I would require. Then accordingly she would come back to see what my result was like and give instruction to the lab assistant to lock up when I was done. Yet she told me that should I choose to, I would do well in Chemistry. I would make a reasonably good chemist and yes, possibly I could get a teaching assistant position to finance my Masters degree.
* bonaire-flower-coral from funscubadiver.com
The next thing I remembered about Betty was seeing her in her dream dress. She came back to college for her wedding rehearsal. She looked like a fairy princess in her froth and lace. I was not able to attend her wedding, that summer I flew home. A friend from the Chemistry class mailed me a write-up of the event with a lovely picture of the newly weds.
*** If you are a believing parent, pray that the paths of your learning disabled child is dotted with angels like Betty.
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