I'm heading home from work (again) and I am stopped at a red light and zoning out. The bicyclist to my left is this tough old guy on a steel frame road bicycle. We nod politely at each other. I notice that he is studying me. I turn towards him and he admits, embarrassed, that the way the light was falling across my face made it look as if I had a black eye, but I do not have a black eye. He has this old school accent, like what I imagine California in 1940 to have been. I smile and say some pleasantry about the evening.
A propos of nothing he says, this time without looking towards me, "Do you like cars?" It comes out more as "Dew yoo lahk carz?"
I turn and look at him very directly, no smile on my face at all. With a ghost of a Boston accent hovering between us I reply seriously, "No. I do not."
The other bicyclist nods, satisfied and equally serious. "Me neither."
what a great question he asked. cut right to the seminal issue, established a common point, and after that you both knew each other was "all right". Nine words, community established. He's probably a Zen master.
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