twenty-four: a full ride

Maybe its because it’s the holidays, its cold and wet outside, its late and unsafe for the young lady.
Maybe he doesn’t have anywhere else to be.
Or maybe it’s because there is nowhere else he would rather be.
She’s closing down the pharmacy, on vacuum duty.
He barrowed a friend’s car, unannounced and drove across the city to resuscitate a bit of chivalry.
They both play a bit indifferent and coy.
He walks behind her returning displaced items (also her duty), both smiling radiantly when out of eyeshot.
Maybe it’s what couples do, but it’s still nice to see.

twenty-three: to serve and protect

“Excuse me miss” is a common opener for “can you spare some change” or “what are you doing tonight.”
Unwelcome callers in this college town use both with numbing frequency.
Not often then are followed up with,
“Do you know where the police station is?”
She doesn’t, but does have an iphone and tells this rare character to hold on while she looks it up.
As her technology fails them, she confesses to vague notion of where its location and offers to walk with him.
Smiling, he declines.
Perhaps the human contact was the only real security that he needed.

twenty-two: study break

Nervous Girl kicks over glass,
It shatters,
Gracious Boy (previously drinking from glass), says its nothing and starts cleaning up glass,
Crowd of strangers huddle over wet shards, (paper towels in hand)
All start cleaning.
Nervous Girl attempts to buy Gracious Boy another drink,
Barista has made it before she orders it, and gives it to her on the house.
Everywhere people empathetically cram against strangers, as though the knowledge they seek is only imbedded in this one physical space.
Shockingly, amidst hum of productivity, everyone (from nervous to gracious) breaks form and helps to clean up some spilt milk.

twenty-one: bear territory

“If you’re riding a bike you have to smile”
Darning a bear suit in the rain, shouting into a megaphone, the man is a bit hard to miss.
“If you’re walking across the street rite now you have to smile”
It has been scientifically proven that smiling releases endorphins in the brain that create a subtle, momentary euphoria.
“Its easier to smile than it is to frown, be a good lazy American and Smile Now”
No agenda or soapbox, just a Sunday morning and a bunch of people suddenly a bit happier, or at least they look like they are.

twenty: Free Press

He undresses the paper from the glossy advertisements like a familiar lover.
Patient yet intrigued, one can tell this is a well-rehearsed, much anticipated dance, as he slides of the protective plastic guarder.
It’s a weekend edition type ritual that you can tell he spends his week longing for.
He is of a dying breed; actual paper buyers.
A young homeless man approaches his table, unable to remove his eyes from something beneath the fold.
Though he has yet to touch this page the older man hands over the story as if it were the first dolor of an investment

nineteen: sweat relief

It’s not just that it’s the last day to study before finals began, its more the fact that the weather reflects the drama and gloom of the impending crunch in its genuine unpleasantness.
It causes students to scurry in way that is particularly cockroach in nature: rapid, as though they are hiding from academia’s can of Raid.
She has left over candy from a mid-week study group, and decided to help sweeten the sting of the impending week.
Standing in the 40-degree rain, garnering a welcoming grin and a bit of empathy she passes out “study treats” and some solidarity.

eighteen: all hands on deck

The two stand hesitantly inside the gym, internally negotiating the potential route they plan on taking through the downpour that has manifested while they were sweating and stretching.
They’re strangers, waiting in opposing corners for the other to make a move, so they can calculate the errors and successes of their personal odyssey through the storm.
Unprovoked one turns to the other and points to her umbrella.
They join in the middle doorway and embark together, stumbling a bit less, but laughing a lot more than before.
Each with one wet shoulder, a worthy sacrifice for a bit of companionship.