THAT LOOK

By Harris Bloom

Though I feared walking into the Apple Store in Soho with a coffee cup in hand to begin with, my anxiety grew when I glanced around and saw no one else carried one.

"Bronwen," I told my girlfriend, "Isn't it odd that no one else has a coffee cup?"

While looking at one of those new mini-IPOD's, she answered flatly,

"I'm sure it's okay."

I continued to feel uneasy. I took a guarded sip while peeking around again.

"I don't know, it's Sunday morning. Don't you find it odd that no one else has coffee in here?"

She looked at me for a second then looked around the store.

"So? I'm sure if it was against their policy, they'd tell you. We did walk right past the security guy, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

She's right, the guard must've seen it when we walked in, I thought. Then again, it was pretty crowded, and I'm sure the guard is more concerned with people walking out with stuff than walking in. Hmmm, I wondered if he just missed it.

"Do you think he may've just missed it?"

"What?" Bronwen asked, somewhat annoyed at having to deal with me again.

"I'm just wondering if perhaps the guard is supposed to turn away coffee drinkers but he just missed me. It is kinda crowded by the doors."

"Are you serious? She started, "Why don't you...." Her voice trailed

off as she motioned for me to look over my left shoulder.

I turned around and saw a fifty-ish year old scraggly bearded homeless man, carrying a large shopping bag full of clothes in one hand, and a bottle of Southern Comfort in the other.

I turned back to Bronwen, who was staring at me with "that look" she gives me about once a day.  

After a second I asked, "So, whaddaya think of the new iPods?" and took a sip of my coffee.

º º º

THE BOOK BY YOUR FEARLESS FOUNDER AND EDITOR: