Please and Thank you

February 17, 2021

This morning I was sitting in a hospital waiting room. There were only three seats, two near each other and a third more or less in Tasmania. Two men came in, a man in his sixties and an older man, most likely his father. I got up and said to the younger one, ‘Please, sit together’ before moving to Tasmania. The son immediately ushered his elderly father into my seat and took the other one.

They then both blanked me which is when my mother took over the control console inside my head. ‘Are you going to say thank you?’ I asked. The man looked at me, shocked, before sheepishly mumbling, ‘Thank you.’ I’m not particularly pleased or proud of this new development in my personality but it was quite satisfying.