A Degree of Serenity

Picture, if you will, a recovering alcoholic sitting at a desk with several open textbooks, dog-eared journal articles highlighted in living colors, and half-filled sheets of notes. Precariously close to the desk's edge, you spy a coffee-stained mug and a filter-filled ashtray. The alcoholic, bone tired, headachy, but worst of all, lonely and anxious, longs to drag herself to bed. She doesn't dare. A research paper on Chaucer's views on women, due in the morning, demands proofing. A neglected chapter still needs reading before tomorrow's Physical Science lab. Finals threaten like dark storm clouds--only one week away.