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Not your average start to the week

September 09, 2002 ~ 4:11 p.m.

Another typically sluggish, grey Monday morning. A woman takes a seat at the far end of the commuter train carriage, displaying a harried, almost agitated look. She stretches out across both seats and closes her eyes. Fifteen minutes into the commute, she wakes up and blinks at the man sitting across from her. His eyes are nearly shielded by the visor of his baseball cap. The man flicks his cap up and returns her gaze. She smiles and says, gosh, all I want to do is sleep. The man contemplates his cup of coffee for a second then responds, every morning I just doze in between stations and sip from this. The young lady smirks again and says, Whatever works. By this time, the young man�s head is resting comfortably on the headrest of the seat as he responds, well, to most people, this is just a cup of coffee, but for me, it�s an oral blood transfusion. She enjoys a hearty but feminine giggle and inquires of him, Ooh, someone has a problem with addiction, eh? He tells her with a smirk of his own that there are worse things than caffeine that he could be hooked on. The train pulls into the main central city terminal, the last stop. The woman gets up, collects her stuff but stops a few seats up to throw down her bag in search of something. The man turns to her on his way out and wishes her a happy Monday. Ooh, well, I�d love that, but I don�t think it�s possible, she replies. Maybe not, but you can try is the last thing the man says on his way out, leaving her with one last smirk and receiving one in return.

The young man in question here is none other than yours-truly. I am so used to the hustle-and-bustle, rush-rush attitude of the city and the endless row of dour faces on trains and in lines that I have come to expect no better than this. I begin every morning thinking, whose arrogant posturing, rule-breaking or anti-social behavior is going to pique my ire today? The rush hour leaves me jaded and embittered. I leave the house each and every weekday, a warrior in civvies, not wanting but nonetheless prepared to engage in petty battles with the sort of people who crawl out from under rocks rather than get out of bed.

In fact, if I were not so concerned with appearing rude myself, this morning�s friendly encounter with a fellow commuter would have left me speechless. I don�t even know if I liked the tingly sensation I felt after making her acquaintance. I am so unused to friendly interactions with strangers that I was left literally numbed by the experience. She made my day, though. Confirmed that I am indeed the type of fellow you can approach. I�ve always thought that I could be pretty reasonable guy.

And a little flirt sure isn�t a bad way to kick off a work week either.

� M.E.M.

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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.

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