#ask before taking

[mauve-moth]

The only liquor left in my house is the last inch of backwashed rum that my least favorite friend of Ben's left after he walked into our kitchen while I was cooking and said, "Hey, rum!" and picked up my nice rum that I save for celebrations and began chugging straight from the bottle without asking anyone. So now I just keep it around to fuel my bitterness towards that man.

Regardless, I could use some liquor, right now.

[deenaundead]

A lesson

A woman sat in a small coffee shop at the corner of a street I normally don't pass

Don't ask me why but she caught my eye right away.

She was an average woman in shape and size, brown hair, average clothing, but for some reason her personality yelled to me, though she stayed silent.

I decided to enter this shop and to sit at the table next to her and I completely forgot where I was going. I noticed something she was doing, it's like she was examining people like a machine would a test.

I stood up to pretend to get a packet of sugar even though I had no drink, I wanted to get a better perspective of what she was doing.

She looked over at me and looked at me, I mean really looked at me as if she was looking for something, finally she reached my eyes but didn't take long for her to look away. She picked up her indie patch work bag , which seemed odd for an average Jane,and book from the table and left

"Who was she." I  just asked myself, but it seemed more of a statement then anything, I just set a goal for myself in an instant.

I suddently found myself running because I remember I had to get to a meeting about a building I wanted to buy.

You see I'm in the construction buisness, yes I am an average Joe. I have an average life every average year of my average month of the average week of my average day which generally goes something like this ;

Wake up

Pee

(Use your imagination.)

Eat

Brush my teeth

Shower

Dry up

Fix my hair

Put on a grey suit with black tie

Load up my breif case

Work

Home

Eat

Sleep

Repeat

But in all honesty how can you judge, well this is assuming you are judging, you might be the same. Well anyway, My life was going fast, for me it felt as though I just graduated high school, but before I knew it I graduated from college and started in my fathers buisness and took over. I am an average age now and I can look and see there is nothing here. 

Good I say, I am successful and I am now settled down. 

So back to what I was saying earlier, I was late and I lost the owner of the building. He didn't want to sell anything to anyone who didn't have his priorities straight, funny. So I wandered back, you see my car was in the shop so I walked a few blocks in 70 degree weather to meet this guy. I don't know what I was doing. I walked past the cafe, past this building where other men go for a cheap fuck and woman go to keep up the bills. Keep going down a few blocks and it gets better, between this 98 cents store and an appartment that was built a few years ago, you're in my neighborhood. My neighborhood is average enough that nothing bad happens, but nothing exciting happens. It's no suburb but it's no ghetto. I am home.

Wake up

The first thing that was on my mind was that girl, why.... Why was she so intriguing, she was nothing! Just a stupid girl who was probably a sociopath. Nonetheless, I woke up with something that needed to be taken care of.

Eat

Brush teeth

Shower

I got a call from one of my employees on the field saying there was an issue with our location and I needed to come by as soon as possible. Great, another problem.

Fix my hair

Suit up

Work

As it turned out the property was on more of a slant then we previously though, so this ment we had to put off the project to remeasure everything and come back sometime later in the year, less pay for me.

 The office didn't need me in today, so went towards my house taking a different route, I passed that shop again, the girl was sitting there again, same outfit as before but different colors. I went in and asked for a cup of water. I sat near her again and she was doing the same thing as last time, but this time she was writing. She put her note book down and continued to look at everyone, as a child would to a picture book. I watched her, I don't know why but this girl..

I decided to go up to her. I know what you're thinking, this is all going to hell terribly quickly, that's what I was thinking! 

So I chose to sit in the seat across from her, to announce myself I made sure the chair made a loud screech across the tile floor, the people behind me definately noticed but she ignored me. So I cleared my throat as a sat down slowly. She continued to ignore me, so I decided to sit and watch her the way she was watching others. I noticed things, she had wrinkles on her forehead, her bracelets covered her wrists in a specific way, she had a mole under her right eye, she had laugh lines. As she turned to take a sip of her tea she noticed me.

"It's rude to look at people like that." She said as she took a drink of her tea, she set it down so that it hit the table and made a clink sound. 

"Are you being a hypocrite?" I wanted to kill myself, why did I say these words to a woman? The first time we speak and this is the shit that pours out of my mouth, my grandma is turning in her grave.

She laugh. "Thank you, you're more honest then I thought Mr. Lawyer." 

I looked at her in confusion 

"You come in here with a suit, you had the brief case, the way you carry yourself and the amount of worry lines. You're a Lawyer."

"Close enough" I said taking off my jacket and loosening my tie. Why was I doing this? Oh well I did it.

We sat there in silence for a little while, we didn't know each others names or anything about each other and we had just spoken a few words. 

"May I ask you something?" I asked her as it seemed she was reaching for her bag. 

She stopped short, sat back. Brushing her hair over her shoulder, she nodded. 

"What do you do? I mean what are you doing here? Sitting? Looking?"

It seemed she wasn't taken aback by the question, she adjusted herself. 

"I watch people. Everyday you pass strangers and you don't notice. They are people, we are people but we never take the time to just notice each other."

She gave this breath taking smile. 

I sat back, I think I fell in love. 

We sat there in silence again just sitting. 

I was sitting across from a stranger that I loved.

tick. tick. tick.

After two hours of sitting she got up and nodded, realizing now, I never  got her name, but I didn't take the time to go after her. I watched the stranger who I loved walk away.

I took my jacket and walked.

Home

Eat

Sleep

Repeat

So now I write this. Still the average life with the average job and the average wife with a child on the way that will one day take my place.

You see I never returned to that cafe, but I saw that girl again, she was the photographer for the wedding. She smiled as she watched everyone doing the same thing she always did, I still never got her name, all I did was sign the checks. She looked at me the same way she did in the cafe that day with the same look. I never went after the girl.

However, there was a lesson I took with me to now, it's easy to figure out. If you are reading this in a public place, look over your shoulder infront of you to your right to your left and find the most average person, the average stranger and look at them see if you can figure something out about them and if they see you simply smile at them sincerely, you might have just made that strangers day, week, month or even year, just because you took the time to notice. Just because you noticed.