Tuesday, March 28, 2006
An Evening at the Convenience Store
He was a very tall man wearing an oversized baggy coat. The bow in his back suggested that he grew tall at a young age and compensated for it by slumping. His face and mannerisms led me to believe that he had never fully developed mentally. He circled the convenience store as if I were the pivital point of his circle. I became a bit uncomfortable as his circle became smaller, especially when I heard him mumbling something. When I went to the coffee machine to draw a cup, he came right up beside me and fumbled with a paper coffee cup. Then I heard him. Looking straight at the coffee machine and not at me, he said, "Have a nice evening." Then I realized that was what he had been mumbling all along. He just had to keep saying it until he was sure that I heard him. That had been his mission all along. "You have a nice evening also," I replied. He turned away and left the store.
