Double Double

The harder I look for these stories, the easier they are to find. Sometimes I keep looking hard even when one pops up in my face, and I realize several minutes later that it's right there and I can stop looking and start observing.

A rather short and round man boarded the bus a few minutes ago. He's got a black ball cap, dark glasses, and a full-bodied moustache. He's wearing a thin plaid shirt and blue jeans that should have been put in the laundry pile about two days ago but are still on the fringe of acceptable to wear in public.

He sits in the sideways seats halfway down the length of the bus, but it looks somewhat awkward as his feet don't quite touch the floor.

Most remarkably, he's holding two medium Tim Horton's coffees in one of those cardboard drink holders.

I find myself wondering what drives him to go to the trouble of taking two coffees on the bus. Perhaps he'll have one when he gets home, and save the other for the morning. More likely, the second one is for his wife, or a close friend.

It's been a long day for me, and a long week. I gaze anxiously out the front window of the bus and groan inwardly as I see how road construction and the-rush-hour-before-the-last-long-weekend-of-summer is conspiring to keep me on the bus for an inordinately long time.

So I start to do some thinking... there is a 7-11 across the street from the next bus stop. My wife loves unexpected Slurpees. If I get off here and buy her a Slurpee (and also get my September bus pass), I can walk the rest of the way home and lose little time.

Purchases made, I'm almost home before I realize that the generosity of the short round man with two coffees subconsciously inspired me to treat my wife. Thank you, short round man!

There's my house.