A Good Talk

Have you ever had a good conversation with a stranger? A complete stranger who was just so friendly that he can strike up a conversation with anybody. Well I had a few times but the best was the one that happened the other day.

I was standing in a very long line to buy medicine at this drugstore near my place. And it was a very long line indeed as there were a lot of people with only two pharmacists behind the counter taking the orders. Normally when I see a long queue like that, I would just go out of the store and come back later. But I needed to buy something so I really had no choice.

After about 15 minutes standing there without the line seeming to get any shorter, I gave a big sounding sigh which was really unintentional. But I was happy that I did so because the guy next to me took notice of it and broke the ice.

He mentioned the obvious, that the line is very long and it's taking like forever for the pharmacists to do their jobs, that the air conditioning system of the store could no longer accommodate the number of people inside and so on and so forth.

I guess it's not really the topic that sometimes makes a conversation come alive. It's the enthusiasm of the talker that gives meaning and zest to the otherwise boring talk. The guy, who was about twice my age, was buying a cough syrup for his daughter and he even joked that by the time he would have bought the medicine and gone home, his daughter would have coughed her cough out.

I admire people who can make light of any situation, even the bleakest ones. I am not like that although I try my best to be one. I am moody and once my mood's been set to low, it's all-set that way for the rest of the day or at least of that certain incident.

We stayed in line for another 15 minutes before our turn came. When I left that store, instead of feeling haggard and angry for staying there for more than 30 minutes, I actually felt good. Thanks to a friendly stranger and our fun chit-chat.