Little Bill

Hello. You don’t know me. You never will. In fact I doubt we’ll ever see each other again. In fact, I don’t think you ever saw me.

I have a confession to make. It’s not one I’m proud of. I stared at you the entire train ride into work this morning. I make it a point not to be the person on the subway that stares the entire ride.

You captivated me. I could not take my eyes off of you. You sat there, all wrapped up in your heavy winter coat, with your wooden rosary casually hanging from your neck, and you peeled the orange you so delicately held in a napkin inside your palm. For twenty minutes you carefully picked at the pith, depositing it into the grocery bag in your lap, taking away every remaining trace of white from the fruit.

And when you were done, it was perfect.

I just wanted to say that I admire you. There were no half-measures when it came to your orange. You held it delicately and did not destroy it. You did not deter; fending off the desire to devilishly devour the delciousness. You held fast and did it right. I can only imagine how the rest of the world would be were we all to pay as much attention to detail as you.

Since I’ve worked twelve hour days for the last four days (yes, it’s Monday) and my brain is too frazzled to put together a coherent thought, I leave you with the following chat transcript:

Alexis: You’d smack me if you knew what my grades are. I’m getting 2 Bs and that’s bad. You’d just roll your eyes at me.

Little Bill: Nah. I was a 4.0 student when I was in school

Alexis: Yeah but you’re way smarter than me.

Little Bill: It was art school.

Alexis: I feel like you say “it was an art school” a lot. What do you mean when you use that term?

Little Bill: What I mean is: it had nothing to do with smarts so much as it had to do with artistic talent.

Little Bill: So by my saying I was a 4.0 student and you saying I’m smart — not that I dispute that — I think is a moot point

Alexis: Interesting. You’re very literal sometimes.

Little Bill: I’m just as much an artist as I am a nerd/scientist type.

Alexis: Is there anything you aren’t good at?

Little Bill: Basketball.

Alexis: hahahaha.