I met this guy at a coffee and donut shop. It’s a 24 hour place and there were a few folks in there that looked like they took that as a challenge. He was one of those. He looked a little rough, but his shoes were newish and it looked like he washed his hair.
Anyway, I’m there to finish up some essay work for this History of Renaissance Architecture course I was taking, so I wasn’t really thinking about chatting with other patrons. I go up and get a coffee and a muffin. It must have been about 10pm but there were still a couple of other people in line. It’s not busy, but there are other people in there.
I gather up my stuff and head for an empty table that I can spread my books and papers across and just generally take up more space than is reasonable. I had about 3 pages to write and this place was usually pretty good for letting people work without hasseling them. I pick up my pencil and take like one sip of coffee before I notice him looking over at me. I give that little nod and smile that you do when you acknowledge someone, but really just want to get back to what you were doing. I figure that should be it. Just a curious guy also having a late coffee or tea or whatever.
He leans over toward my table and says. “I have super powers.”
I don’t really register this. Like I hear him, but I can’t figure out what he’s saying so I sort of squint and and ask “What?” like I’m not even trying not to sound annoyed.
So he says again “I have super powers”
I smile at him and say something like “That’s good” and look back down at my paper. I’m trying to radiate ‘busy’ out the top of my head so maybe this guy will leave me alone. It doesn’t work.
He says “Yeah. You don’t believe me.” and he’s looking down at his cup like he’s just absolutely heartbroken. Like I just told him his cat was dead or something.
So now I’m feeling bad, but at the same time I’m going over some of the construction drawings for St. Peter’s Basilica and I sort of need to focus on that. I’m trying not to look up, but I hear the guy, one table over, and these tables are pretty close together, and he sniffs.
I don’t want to look up at all, but of course I do, and I see this guy seriously on the verge of tears. I have stuff i need to do, but I can’t just sit there all cold hearted, so I ask him “What sort of powers”.
Now I don’t know how many times he has told people that he has super powers, but seriously, I might have been the first person who ever asked him. This guy was just super pumped to have someone to talk to about his super powers.
He says “I can travel through space”. I know I’m not getting any work done for a while, so I just sit back with my coffee and figure I’ll humour this guy for a bit.
I asked him “Like to planets and stuff?” and he chuckles and says “no, not like that, like cartesian space”
So I’m intrigued right, like I never expected the word ‘cartesian’ to come out of this guy so I have to ask him “What do mean?” and he goes into this explanation about increasing the frequency of waves in spacetime and how you can adjust the frequency in one direction but the amplitude in another and skip the peaks or something. I don’t really know, but it was a straight monologue about physics. I joked that’s why I am studying history, but I don’t think he really got the joke.
I asked him “So what does that let you do? What’s the super power?” and he just looked at me like I was plain stupid and said “It lets me travel in space.”
So I asked “like where in space?” and he says “anywhere.”
So I asked “Fast? Like teleporting or something?” and he says “no, just regular speed, but outside of time.”
I thought about asking him what that meant but I figured it would just be a bunch more made up physics stuff, so I said “Well thanks for telling me. That was really interesting.”
It was sort of a jack ass way of trying to end a conversation, but I picked up my pencil hoping he would get the hint.
He leaned back over and said really quietly in case other people were listening I guess “ You want to try it?”
I sort of sighed, put down my pencil and told him “Sure”.
So anyway, you wanted to know why I’m calling for a ride from the Blaine Lake Esso. Does that clear it up?
Anyway, I’m there to finish up some essay work for this History of Renaissance Architecture course I was taking, so I wasn’t really thinking about chatting with other patrons. I go up and get a coffee and a muffin. It must have been about 10pm but there were still a couple of other people in line. It’s not busy, but there are other people in there.
I gather up my stuff and head for an empty table that I can spread my books and papers across and just generally take up more space than is reasonable. I had about 3 pages to write and this place was usually pretty good for letting people work without hasseling them. I pick up my pencil and take like one sip of coffee before I notice him looking over at me. I give that little nod and smile that you do when you acknowledge someone, but really just want to get back to what you were doing. I figure that should be it. Just a curious guy also having a late coffee or tea or whatever.
He leans over toward my table and says. “I have super powers.”
I don’t really register this. Like I hear him, but I can’t figure out what he’s saying so I sort of squint and and ask “What?” like I’m not even trying not to sound annoyed.
So he says again “I have super powers”
I smile at him and say something like “That’s good” and look back down at my paper. I’m trying to radiate ‘busy’ out the top of my head so maybe this guy will leave me alone. It doesn’t work.
He says “Yeah. You don’t believe me.” and he’s looking down at his cup like he’s just absolutely heartbroken. Like I just told him his cat was dead or something.
So now I’m feeling bad, but at the same time I’m going over some of the construction drawings for St. Peter’s Basilica and I sort of need to focus on that. I’m trying not to look up, but I hear the guy, one table over, and these tables are pretty close together, and he sniffs.
I don’t want to look up at all, but of course I do, and I see this guy seriously on the verge of tears. I have stuff i need to do, but I can’t just sit there all cold hearted, so I ask him “What sort of powers”.
Now I don’t know how many times he has told people that he has super powers, but seriously, I might have been the first person who ever asked him. This guy was just super pumped to have someone to talk to about his super powers.
He says “I can travel through space”. I know I’m not getting any work done for a while, so I just sit back with my coffee and figure I’ll humour this guy for a bit.
I asked him “Like to planets and stuff?” and he chuckles and says “no, not like that, like cartesian space”
So I’m intrigued right, like I never expected the word ‘cartesian’ to come out of this guy so I have to ask him “What do mean?” and he goes into this explanation about increasing the frequency of waves in spacetime and how you can adjust the frequency in one direction but the amplitude in another and skip the peaks or something. I don’t really know, but it was a straight monologue about physics. I joked that’s why I am studying history, but I don’t think he really got the joke.
I asked him “So what does that let you do? What’s the super power?” and he just looked at me like I was plain stupid and said “It lets me travel in space.”
So I asked “like where in space?” and he says “anywhere.”
So I asked “Fast? Like teleporting or something?” and he says “no, just regular speed, but outside of time.”
I thought about asking him what that meant but I figured it would just be a bunch more made up physics stuff, so I said “Well thanks for telling me. That was really interesting.”
It was sort of a jack ass way of trying to end a conversation, but I picked up my pencil hoping he would get the hint.
He leaned back over and said really quietly in case other people were listening I guess “ You want to try it?”
I sort of sighed, put down my pencil and told him “Sure”.
So anyway, you wanted to know why I’m calling for a ride from the Blaine Lake Esso. Does that clear it up?