I am standing at a bus stop, waiting for my bus to arrive. In the
corner of my eye, I notice an elderly man, gesturing nervously. He
looks kinda wasted. It’s cold outside, and he is trembling under
his light sweater.
A woman wearing a hijab crosses my line of sight.
“Young woman, could you please –”, the man ejaculates before
being ignored.
The woman fades away in the distance and the man keeps gesturing,
asking the void surrounding him if someone could help him open his
door. Deciding to be spontaneous, outgoing and practical, I
approach him.
“Young man, could you please unlock my door for me?”
–
“Sure.”
He hands me the key to the front door and continues talking. “You
see, I would normally do this on my own, but I am feeling pretty
weak… Just came back from the doctor. He put me in quarantine,
tells me I have been infected with this new virus, haha! Tells me
I have to stay at home for at least a week …”
In disbelief, I look down at his key in my hands, then again at
the man.
“And now you’re asking me to unlock the door with the key you
just touched.”
– “Yeah, so?”
I sigh and stick the key into the keyhole. The man is turning
pessimistic now.
“Won’t work. I’ve tried many times.”
In a smooth motion, I unlock the door and it makes the typical
clicking sound.
“Aha, now you’ve done it!”, he shouts.
– “What?”
–
“You’ve broken the key! Go ahead and see if it comes out the
keyhole in a single piece!”, he blusters.
In another smooth motion, I turn the key counterclockwise for a
corner arc, pull it out in a single piece, and hand it back to
him.
“Ah! Oh! Well. I thought you would have broken it.”
I get away without saying a word and keep my murderous thoughts
to myself.
“Also, thanks again!”, he cat-calls at me.
Then I go home and wash my hands and the entire contents of my
jacket.