Smile

She woke up with a secret

Smile

When I woke up this morning, I knew a secret and it made me feel fantastic. After my shower, I used my hand to wipe the fog from the mirror and took a good look, anxious to catch a glimpse of someone with such a fabulous secret. It was inside me but you could see it wanted to come bursting out. My eyes were shimmering and my face, normally a little droopy this time in the morning was at full attention with a rosy complexion like I’d just marched in from the cold. In the steamy bathroom the fog crept back into the circle I’d wiped, gobbling up my image but I could still see my smile shining through the mist just like Minster’s lighthouse over at Sand Harbor during a storm.

I left the house and began my four-block walk to the stop at Fourth and Myriam where I would hop on bus sixteen. Sixteen would take me seven and a half miles into town and drop me off one block from the Winston building where I’d been gainfully employed now for the better part of eight years. From seven a.m. until four-thirty, I ran the tiny shop in the lobby of that thirty-seven story building dishing out breath mints and magazines, caffeinated drinks and candy bars, the last minute card for the almost forgotten birthday and a thousand other conveniences that the busy people of the Winston required.

Sitting on the yellow bench at the bus stop, I drew the fake fur collar of my maroon jacket closer around my neck. It was nippy this September morning. Clouds covered up the sun so it even looked a little gloomy. At least it probably looked that way, I thought, to someone who didn’t know my secret. My smile got a little bigger at the thought because for me, gloomy just wasn’t on the menu.

The bus pulled up and opened its door. I stepped up, swiped my pass through the reader and greeted the driver.

“Good morning, Joe.”

“Morning, maam,” he said with a smile. Joe always greeted me with a smile. “And don’t you look like a pretty picture today,” he said, which made me blush.

“Thank you, Joe,” I said. “I have a secret.”

“Do tell.”

“I’d like to. But I can’t. It’s a secret after all. If I tell you, it wouldn’t be one anymore now would it?”

“Well I guess it wouldn’t at that,” he replied. But his own smile got bigger like somehow he’d teased a bit of my secret out of me without my knowing it. I moved down the isle and found a seat. I was able to make eye contact with four passengers and for each what started out as a distracted expression with a far-away gaze turned into a smile almost as big as mine.

I opened the shop and watched the people as they wandered in and out. Some looked happy, a few outright sad, and a couple looked so sleepy it was hard to tell. Richard came into the store around eight-thirty, his normal time. Richard was a pudgy, short man with a pale complexion and a pink face. He was very shy and acted as if anyone around him within striking distance might just do it at any minute. He’d been coming in to the shop for the better part of two years now to buy his morning paper and diet coke. In the last six months, he’d begun lingering just a little longer than he needed to and I caught him stealing a glance in my direction every now and then; I knew he taken a liking to me. I’m always willing to make small talk with the customers and I’d tried to strike up a conversation with Richard a time or two just to be friendly. It never went too well though because each time it seemed he just couldn’t come up with anything to say so he’d only thank me and walk briskly out with a blush.

Today, when Richard walked up to pay I took his money, gave him his change and then, because of my secret, I reached right over the counter and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. Kissing a customer right there in the store was probably something that could get me fired but today, fired was another word that wasn’t on the menu. Richard gave me a surprised look and then that million dollar grin I’d seen on my own face popped right onto his. He thanked me and walked out this time a little more briskly with a little rosier blush.

The day at the shop was nearing its end. I’d told a couple people that I had a secret but I hadn’t told anyone what it was. It wasn’t easy. Every time I met someone it tried to shape into words and leap from my lips with a hardy shout. I was busy counting cash and taking care of closing down when I heard a musical whistling coming all the way from the elevator bank. I looked up as the tune got closer and nearly fell off my seat. That man’s face was brighter and his smile was even bigger than mine. He wore a gray hat that matched his coat. He grabbed a Coke and wandered over to pay.

“You know the secret, don’t you,” I said.

“Yes maam, I do,” he replied. “I’ve known it for quite a while.” The man gave me a wink and turned to leave.

“I know the secret too,” I said as he was heading out of the shop. “I haven’t told anyone but it seems like everyone I’ve met today has somehow figured it out anyway. Does that happen to you?” The man turned and flashed those bright eyes in my direction.

“It certainly does,” he said. He tipped his hat and turned once again to leave adding only, “Ain’t that the greatest?”