he’s wearing an incredibly cool pair of vintage asics racers. i’m smitten.

i have just finished 2 miles on the dirt track at cole, seeing if the softer surface would help my ailing knee. it did not. maybe i’m finished? it would be pretty funny if my knee called it quits just as i transitioned to full-time runner. payback for covering black sabbath in the southern baptist youth center in my younger days? oh, well. worth it.

i am waiting to pay for my slush monkey. as i was pouring it (a laborious task given the need to mix coke, cherry and mountain dew flavors in the correct portion and layer of the drink) i was eavesdropping on three police officers standing nearby. conversation on race relations? how to stay safe in a deteriorating landscape? that jig bush was doing at the memorial service? none of the above. they were talking kale.

it was a discussion on smoothies. kelp and kale and spinach and the proper way to combine them for smoothies, which made me feel bad about pretending to be an athlete while dishing up a drink whose main ingredients are sugar and, ummm, well, i guess just sugar.

but then as i get in line, the cop in front of me has a dr pepper and a bag of peanut m&ms. this seems like a better choice. if you’re going to go out and risk your life on a daily basis, do it with a dr pepper and m&ms in your belly. as he waits in line, the guy with the yellow asics motions to him. i’m buying those, he says.

he’s maybe 30, t-shirt and baggy shorts, and the world’s greatest pair of vintage asics. i might have mentioned them already. seems like a nice guy. the cop resists, but the guy is adamant. a small gesture after an awful week. the cop finally agrees (dr pepper is getting warm.) the cashier checks them out. they shake hands and the cop says thanks. the guy tells him thank YOU. and that was that.

it made me think. about how little gestures can mean a lot. about how we take people for granted too often. about how three bucks is a small price for someone who could be taking a bullet for you later in the day. about how maybe the world will be ok after all.

but mostly it made me think:

where the hell did he get those shoes?

life is funny …