Sunlight danced around the window with faint tints of green from the leaves of a massive Sugar Maple tree outside. Bluebirds raced through the skies like a couple of fighter jets, zipping up and down all over the mild blue sky until settling onto one of the branches to rest, twittering.

It looked like a little Eden compared to what the student had on his side of the glass.

Sweat and body odor swamped the bedroom. He could feel the glasses begin to slip down his nose as he furiously typed up the conclusion paragraph.

A conclusion that could’ve made sense to anyone but folks his own age. There were momentary thoughts of worry over his diction having too much flair, but they didn’t last long…he just wanted to get this over and done with. Checking for grammar mistakes to find little, he felt pleased and downloaded the Google Doc into a pdf and dragged it to the submission box.

The student clicked submit with the solemnity of a man launching a satellite into orbit. For a brief and glorious moment he believed he was free. Then the screen flashed a chirpy message.

Submission received. Please complete the attached reflection task.

He stared. Blinked. Considered screaming. Instead he squinted at the screen the way one might look at a raccoon rifling through the pantry. Surely this was a mistake. Surely the universe would not demand more of him after the literary masterpiece he had just sacrificed his sanity to produce.

He clicked open the reflection task.

Write three hundred words about the process of writing your essay and what you learned.

He slapped a hand to his face. What he learned. He had learned that his laptop ran hotter than the sun. He had learned that deodorant was not optional. He had learned that the English language could betray him at any moment. But somehow he suspected his professor did not want that kind of honesty.

Fine. Reflection time. He cracked his knuckles which made exactly zero difference and began typing.

As he typed, a bluebird outside chirped loudly as if mocking him. He glared at the window.

Must be nice, he muttered. Flying around. Eating berries. No reflection tasks.

The bird chirped again. This time it sounded smug.

He sighed through his soul. At least the reflection was only three hundred words. That was practically a haiku compared to what he had just slogged through. He could do three hundred words. Easy.

Probably.

Halfway through the second sentence he heard his phone buzz. A notification from the assignment portal. He opened it without thinking.

Reminder. Reflection task due in thirty minutes.

He stared at the screen, the way a defeated warrior stares at the horizon. The bluebird chirped again, sounding positively delighted.

He took a deep breath, cracked his neck, and muttered to himself.

Alright. Round two. Let us dance.