Post-O

I left the office late just now. Plugged the earphones in, switched on my mp3 and walked to the bus stop. It's my habit to walk from the office, enter through the BHG mall and exit at the National Library. A good solid 15 minutes stroll to the bus stop. Why? Just so I can get a seat in the bus. =)

Anyway, once at the traffic light I had to wait for the green man to lit. There were some short posts nearby. I leaned back and sat on one. Pretty harmless.

A while later, a Caucasian man stopped beside me. He was in office attire, with the sleeves rolled up and a black briefcase in hand. He turned and looked at me. I nodded and smiled. He smiled back and nodded. Traffic was slowly coming to a halt. The man said something but I didn't quite catch it.

Me: "I'm sorry?"
Man: "Are you holding up the post?"

I knew he was just kidding in good nature. But tell me, how often does a stranger do that to you? On a normal day, I face a busload of weary half-dead passengers. The invisible words on their foreheads read "I'm tired. Scram."

Me: "No, just resting a bit."

By then traffic has stopped and the green man lit. We crossed the road together, made some small talk and parted at the junction.

Man: "Nice talking to you, Miss. Goodnight."
Me: "Same here. G'night."

And that was it. Totally harmless. For that 5 minutes' worth of talk, I got to know a stranger.