September 19, 2010

Easy Come, Easy Go


It was rush hour in downtown Winnipeg…

I squeezed onto an over-crowded bus, and the only seat left was in the very back row. So I jammed myself down in between the four other people there. They were all big guys with massive shoulders, so it was pretty snug.

The guy beside me gets a bright idea. So he reaches up and puts his arm around me.

Weird.

But then I kind of got used to it. And it DID free up some shoulder room. So I thought, “hey, what’s the harm?” This is not that bad, so I decided to make a joke…

I looked over and smirked, “hey, if you’re going to put your arm around me, you’re going to have to take me on a date!”

He took his arm off me. He didn’t speak English.

In a thick accent he said, “Ohh, so-ray sirh.” Which I assume meant, “Oh, sorry sir.”

So we’re sitting there in complete silence, looking directly forward, both kind of confused – like we’ve had our first fight or something…(weird).

But now I feel kind of bad that I hurt this guy’s feelings with my bad joke. And my shoulders were starting to get a little sore – so I got an idea.

I reached up and put my arm around him – brilliant! Solid game play Chapman. More shoulder room, and you made the foreign guy feel better!

He seemed to appreciate it, and gave a slight nod of approval.

It was that day I learned Easy Come, Easy Go…



Next Week’s Hint: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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