Today, as I was walking home from work I got infected.
He was walking behind me, this stranger of a man, whistling an exceptionally cheery tune. His pace was faster than mine and soon he caught up with me. I felt a strong urge to give face to this cheerfulness. As he passed me our eyes met for a split second. He abruptly broke his tune, as if he hadn’t been aware of his whistling. We both smiled awkwardly.
I remarked on his jollyness in the kindest way and continued to smile. His reply was: “It’s such a great day. It’s just one of those days.”
We walked side by side for a few seconds. Not saying anything. Then I broke the silence by urging him not to stop whistling on my account. He started his song again and walked into a book store.
With a big smile on my face after this small encounter I strolled my way and curiously found myself whistling a cheery tune of my own after a few blocks.
