It was the cutest thing.

One of the guys in my World Civ class, from New Hampshire, was telling another, from Massachusetts, about his trip home over the weekend, how the leaves are all at their peak now. "It was classic New England," he said. The other wistfully replied, "I wish I could have been there."

At which point the first opened his notebook and pulled out a perfect red maple leaf. He presented it to the latter. "You deserve it."

He accepted the thin gift solemnly and tucked it into the back of the copy of the Bhagavad Gita he was holding. They then proceeded to talk about the Red Sox.