The essential assignment

Have you ever had your computer crash at a critical moment? Have you ever begun to write something in a document and lose yourself in it, to a point that you forget to press save ever few hundred words?

When I was back in school, too many years ago to count, I got a call one night at 7:45 from my aunt, (the one that’s like a sister!), her voice filled with panic! I found it difficult to understand everything she said, but I distinctly heard the words, ‘computer…crashed’, and ‘assignment…gone!’ as she sobbed down the phone. I knew she always left things to the last minute, that’s just the type of person she is, but I didn’t know that she was so ‘dizzy’ she would leave a very important assignment alone, for three months, before tackling it the night before it was due!

As she only lived a few minutes away, I rescued my bike from the spider ridden shed, and immediately cycled over there. My legs were peddling so fast that I had to pull on the brakes to slow me down before I freewheeled down the hill to her estate.

Seconds after I pressed the doorbell she opened the door, hysterically crying, tears streaming down her pasty, freckled face. Without saying anything, because she wasn’t making any sense, I rushed into the back room where the crashed computer sat. In those days, only ‘rich’ people had laptops, the rest of us ‘commoners’ having to do with a less portable PC.

I plugged the PC out for a minute and then plugged it back in. As I pressed the ‘on’ button, I held my breath, praying for me to have something to work with. I tinkered with it a little bit and managed to get the PC working again, my aunt letting out an audible sigh as the home screen lit up. I found the little bit of her assignment she had saved and looked at her, pleased with myself. She, on the other hand, began to cry again.

‘It’s gone!’ she kept saying, ‘all my hard work is gone!’

I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a chair; afraid she was going to collapse going by the fact that her face was ashen grey. I positioned the chair in such a way that she was beside the PC. I sat on the black, swivel, computer chair and, as I knew how to type, looked her in the eye and promised her she would have a kick ass assignment by the end of the night!

I instructed her to try to dictate what information she had lost and informed her that I would type it as quickly as my fingers would move! As she began, the tears beginning to subside, her colour returned, and she referred greatly to pages, upon pages of notes she had gathered.

We worked well into the night, her dictating and me typing. I had to, of course, ask her to spell some of the words, as the assignment was part of her end grade for her degree in nursing. In her time, you didn’t receive a degree when you became a nurse. She decided to try for it simply to buff up her CV, and more importantly, her skills.

As I began to type the references at the typing marathon, she began to cry once more. It was 4:30 am and she could hardly believe that, not only did she have a kick ass paper to submit, as promised, but also that I thought so highly of her to drop everything and come to her aid!

When I printed the finished product, as she was continuing to sob into her notes, I noticed a shiny, bright new red folder under a book and put the essential document into it. As I handed it to her, she looked at me with such gratitude that I knew how much she appreciated my help and embraced me in a long, tight hug, whispering, ‘thank you!’ into my ear. I hugged her back and began to yawn.

My aunt made me leave my bike at her house insisting on driving me home, saying it was the least she could do! I took the lift with relief because it meant I didn’t have to pedal up that long, arduous hill in, what was becoming, dawn!

I let myself into my house, my aunt watching me enter, and ran upstairs, popping my head into my parents’ bedroom to announce my return.

‘Did you fix it?’ my mom asked groggily.

‘It turned out brilliantly!’ I whispered back and crawled into bed.

An hour later, my alarm clock went off, alerting me that it was time for school. All through that particular school day, I slept through most of my classes, wakened gruffly by the furious teachers. Well, it wasn’t my fault they delivered a boring class, was it?

That night, after I had a nap that lasted hours, my aunt showed up at the door. A sense of doom hit me. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ I asked myself. I welcomed her as she walked into the kitchen, a set of Lego, that she wasn’t really in a financial position to buy, in her hand as an offering for my good work.

‘Did it get graded yet?’ I asked expectantly.

‘No,’ she said smiling widely, ‘but I did submit it in time, and all thanks to you!’

I accepted the Lego set, one which I myself was saving up for and gave her the biggest hug I could muster!

‘You know I’d do anything for you!’ I whispered into her ear.

‘Thank you!’ she whispered back.

As tears began to form in my eyes, I eventually released her from the embrace. She stayed and had dinner with us that night, delighted with herself that, even though her computer crashed, her niece pulled her over the line.

I was the first person to congratulate her after the ceremony where she received her degree.

‘Congratulations!’ I whispered in her ear as we had our arms around each other.

‘I couldn’t have done it without you!’ she said, and moved on to the other relatives who made the effort to witness her fulfilling her goal.

I continued to look at her, tears streaming down my face as I replayed what she just said to me over, and over again in my mind. I was proud of her and delighted I played a part in her success!