January 2006

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Communication
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I woke up early this morning, and as the day progressed, I realized I wasn't having a very good day. I thought it was just me.

I did my job-hunting things, then I got dressed and got some things ready to be mailed. I headed to the bus. When I got on, there was a man there stretched out across one of the longer bench seats. I thought perhaps he was ill, and heading from our complex to a doctor's office. Then he sat up on the bench, looked around and decided to come sit in the seat behind me.

To be more accurate, he was sitting in the seat behind my handbag, the one with all the outgoing mail in it. And he decided to lean forward against the seat back. I decided the better choice was to put my bag in my lap, just in case he felt the need to throw up.

Meanwhile, I started smelling something a lot too sweet and fruity. Then I realized the scent was that of a certain fruit-flavored chewing gum, one that I happen to like in small quantities. This man smelled as though he had bathed himself in the essence of gum, and doused his clothes with it for good measure.

I'm not sure how many sticks one has to chew to reach that level of saturation, but if he did indeed have a mouthful of it, I'm not surprised he looked a little ill.

So. I get downtown and head toward the Post Office, where I only accomplished part of what I went in for. I really should have headed to town half an hour earlier. The line waiting for window service was just too long that late in the afternoon. I'll do that part another day.

I headed then to the drugstore. They were out of one of the things I needed, but at least they had the other three. Another thing to do another day.

I got back to the bus stop for the trip home. When I got on the bus, Chewing Gum man was there again, too. This time, the bus was crowded, so he was sitting on one of the longer bench seats, with three other people. You could still smell the gum (and he was still chewing).

I believe he had taken in some fresh sticks in the hour or so since we had parted company. I was glad that if it really did make him sick, I and my bags (hand and store) were across the aisle, and I could move if necessary.

At the next stop, a young man got on who decided he wanted to sing. I'm not at all sure what the song was, but he went through it at least twice. His captive audience didn't applaud, though he did get a couple of smiles. He finally stopped with the melody making once the crowd had dwindled.

It was, however, when he started singing that I realized something that made me quite a bit happier than I had been all day. It wasn't that I alone was having a bad day, it was that the universe itself was a little out of kilter. Several days' worth of craziness had just been lumped into one Wednesday.

Taking that into consideration, I settled into my seat and waited to see what would happen next. Chewing Gum Man got off the bus after a few more stops. As I mentioned, Singing Man stopped his entertaining. The bus got to my apartment complex, and I came home to settle in, satisfied that I had done the best I could with an out-of-whack day.

I have my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be better, for me and for the universe. We need it.