I opened my umbrella and made my way precariously down the glossy steps, the paper bag holding my birthday treat from Starbucks dangling from the tips of my fingers. I’d wrapped 2021 and was all ready to indulge in some sweets and coffee.
As I approached the traffic lights, I saw a young man ahead, waiting at the kerb for the green light. Suddenly, I had an impulse to shelter him from the rain. It was something I hadn’t felt like doing in a long time. As the lights remained stationary, I decided and took a breath. Here goes.
“Would you like me to shelter you across?”
He turned towards me with a slight look of surprise. “Oh… no it’s okay, I’m just going nearby.”
“It’s okay, I’m going the same way,” I said with a grin beneath my mask.
I held out my umbrella towards him and we waited, a slightly awkward silence hanging between us. All too soon, it was green and we started walking.
In that short walk, I found out he lived in the apartment across and was waiting to study Architecture at university. We talked about how he is looking to tutor Math and Science instead of English like me, about mothers, about kids. I spoke of enjoying couplehood; he asked if I was going out to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We shared a wistful wish to travel and then arrived at the diversion where we were to part.
“Well, all the best for your studies,” I said. He responded with some parting words. There were no numbers, no Instagrams, just a serendipitous act of charity for a stranger who remained one at the end of it.
And somehow, it lent a sort of magical touch to this New Year’s Eve, as if humans crave the warmth of giving in the coldness the world has come to be. Maybe. But I know I would do the same again the next time I have an umbrella over coffee.
Wishing everyone a very happy new year.
Awl and Scribe 