Some moments remind me that people often find themselves on the razor’s edge. Wherein one more callous word or capricious movement of the universe can have them seeking the tallest building. I won’t reveal the moment from a little bit ago. But I saw the most authentic face of gratitude I’ve seen in quite a while. I heard the clerk tell a man, “I’m so sorry your day’s been terrible.” The man in question radiated defeat and bone-weary tiredness. He was much too young to stand with a posture like the upper part of a question mark. When we both left, he reached out his hand to introduce himself. I showed him my badge so that he could see my name as I said it. I didn’t mean for the words that exited my mouth to sound so meta or cryptic: “Things might not get better, but you will be.” We talked for a minute. As I drove away, I saw him walking. His pants were still askew across the top of his boots; his back was not as arched. Is it optimism to think the synchronicity of our collision in the same time and space was no accident? Pure selfishness tells me that it was more of a benefit to me by far than to him. 

I drove away and then stopped to walk over to the creek. The tornado test siren filled the air. “This is a test,” the siren blared. Indeed it is.

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