I explained they had nothing to fear from me.

"They're not letting any students into the building," they said. "Why don't you go around to the back. The guards there might be able to let you in."

By now it was 4:58 p.m. and I saw my chances of submitting an essay to the Bowdoin Prize Competition quickly diminishing. So I raced around the building where I correctly identified the security guards in charge. I decided to avoid them. I sprinted up the stairs just as they noticed me and came running.

"You're not allowed in the building!" they shouted.

"But I'm trying to meet a deadline for the Bowdoin Prize Essay. It's due today at 5 p.m.!"

"Well we don't know anything about that. Anyway the people in the building have all left by now."

As the male security guard said this, the backdoor opened and two women came out. I came down from the steps to talk to the guards, hoping that the developments of the past few minutes might shame them into admitting the logic of my point of view.