Contagion- It's Not Just For Tuberculosis Anymore!

So yesterday, I had a hot date with Michaela. We actually hadn't seen each other since the spring, though we have been making tentative plans to get together for a while, and then canceling them for one reason or another at the last minute. Michaela is one of my few freshman year friends who is still in town, and one of only two that i still keep in touch with. She finished her undergrad in May, and now she is pursuing her MBA. After she is finished, it will just be me and Kendra! But once again, I digress. (That seems to happen more and more as I approach retirement age...)

So anyway, hot date. We went to Pizza Hut and did what people do there, then stayed for a couple more hours just catching up and chatting. (Obviously, you miss a lot in six months.) It was funny, because when it got to be about 10:15, we started wondering if the place was closing, and if maybe we were the only thing keeping the employees from going home. I wouldn't expect them to close that early on the weekends, but we were the only people in there, and you never know.

There were cards from this trivia game for customers to amuse themselves with after all possible conversational topics had been exhausted, so by the start of hour three we had resorted to these. We were quizzing each other on amazingly obscure facts, and berating each other for our respective lacks of knowledge, when a girl walked by, sweeping the floor.

I believe at this time, Michaela was mocking me for not knowing the answer to some "amazingly simple" question. The memory is so traumatic that I have partially blocked it, so I can't be entirely sure. As I was wringing my brain for the answer, the girl said, "Is it gumbo?" Indeed, it was.

Then she said, "We're so glad you guys are here."

My first thought was that this was sarcasm, and I was preparing my, "Are you closed? I'm so sorry. We can't read. We were having an intervention for my life-threatening drug problem, and she was finally getting through to me. We're going to be gunned down as soon as we leave the building, and we're just cherishing these last moments of life. Insert other heart-wrenching tale that excuses our inconsideration."

But then she said, "You guys have been sitting over here, laughing and having fun for all this time. It's bringing up the mood in this place just having you here!"*

We didn't really know how to respond to that, but we promised to keep up the merriment as long as possible. We actually ended up staying for about another hour, then it was time for old ladies to get their rest. But that made my day. Who knows when, by just being your normal, spastic self, you could be adding some joy to someone else's life?






*Paraphrased. I really can't remember what she actually said, but you get the drift. Happiness. Contagious. Dig?