Stage: College subway station about a block from my place, catching up with a friend while she waited for a Streetcar. I had not seen in her for a few months but I had just given her my still valid TTC day pass.

‘…And that’s what the note said in the book I went to pick up today… I thought it peculiar.’
(Read: ‘A bishop, a belcher and Stevie’ in the December archives)
She looked blankly at me for a few seconds.
‘You know, you are weird.’
‘Huh? What did you say?’
‘You are weird Mauricio.’
‘…Because I told you about what happened to me with the book?’
She then proceeded to tap me lightly on my chest.
‘Thank you for not dating me.’
‘Huh?’ (She had a thing for me at the beginning of ’05)
Some awkward silence followed.
Weird? Like weird?’ I said holding my tongue, although I was starting to warm it up in case she maelstrom-ed on me.
Then the streetcar came.
‘Okay bye,’ she said as she tapped my shoulder. ‘Thanks for the day pass.’
Yes, I got I annoyed. So I said it like it is:
‘I see, this coming from a woman who married a Dominican after knowing him for less than two weeks at one-week intervals throughout the summer and is now trying to bring him to Canada under the pretence that he will love you forever? In case you are wondering, I am not the one importing a husband. So be careful who you call weird. Measure your words.’

She gave me a look that reeked to disdain as she left for her street car. Mmm, I doubt she will be calling anytime soon.