Survival of the Driest

No matter what you were planning on doing today, you probably weren't counting on walking through a torrential downpour at 4:40 on the South Side. Thus, everyone who's currently sitting here in Crazy Mocha has no intention of leaving. Afternoon breaks are prolonged, errands delayed, coffees being drunk (drank?) at a much slower pace.

It almost feels European.

Oddly, despite several folks hurrying past the door beneath the cover of umbrellas (or no cover at all), no one has ducked in to avoid the storm. That's a shame. I was really hoping for a happy couple to dart in, soaking wet and giddy with the joys of being young, happy and at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Instead, there's a grey-haired lady scowling by the doorway as she uses a copy of the City Paper for an umbrella.

******

It's at this moment that I notice The Ugly Truth About My Fellow Cafegoers: their laptop screens are grotesque. Smudges, smears and general spatterings of... something... are clearly visible on the monitor screens of people around me. The people themselves are sharply dressed, well-groomed and probably would faint if they knew their machines were that obviously grungy. But then, I can see their screens at an angle and they can't.

* Pauses to turn his own screen at an angle *

Yup. A few smudges here, too. Not "Jackson Pollock meets Krispy Kreme"-style smudges, but a few marks all the same.

Thank god we can't see the residue on our keyboards...