A Chance Encounter

The day had started
Much like any other,
Just a boring routine
To which he had
Grown accustomed.
There was no hint
That anything special
Would happen
And no particular
Rhyme or reason
That it did.
He had learned to live
Without expectations,
To do the work he did
With machine like precision,
And he had gotten so
That he could almost
Do it in his sleep.
In fact, most of the time
He virtually sleepwalked
Through his day,
Mindlessly doing
What he did,
Programmed to keep going.
That was what it was like for him
And he never questioned why
Or imagined it being
Any other way
Than the way it was.
Maybe that was the point
Of what happened.
Life is full of unexpected
Twists and turns,
And it has a way
Of interfering and interrupting
Those who have
Grown complacent to
Or oblivious of
The life they live.
Maybe it was just
The ingredient of chance
That was missing
From his world,
The spice of life,
So to speak.
His car was in for service
So he had decided
To take the bus into work.
He would have to
Thank the repairman
For not getting
His work done on time,
But that would come later.
At the moment,
He was disturbed
And cursing the man's
Flagrant undependability.
Now his normal routine
Was all messed up,
And that didn't
Set well with him.
Thus, he was not
In the best of moods
When he entered the bus.
He wanted a seat
Near the center doors
So that he could make his escape
As easily as possible,
But those seats were taken.
As he moved further back,
He found the only seat available
Next to a ragged old lady
Whom he would rather have avoided.
This was the part he dreaded
About public transportation,
Having to sit with strangers.
The lady added to his discomfort
By commencing to tell a story
Of the old days back in Poland.
She was a refugee,
A survivor of the Holocaust,
And the only one of her family
To have made it through
Hitler's reign of terror.
In spite of himself,
He was drawn into her story,
Fascinated by the life
She had lived,
And the strength
It must have taken
Just to survive.
Before she exited,
She looked into his eyes
And warned him that his life
Was about to change.
The message was cryptic,
Hanging in the air
Leaving him wondering
What it meant.
Maybe this was it.
The old woman's seat was taken
By a young woman
Who asked if he minded
If she sat next to him.
He was immediately transfixed
By her accent
As well as by her beauty.
She was different,
Strange and exotic,
Obviously not from
Around these parts.
She was on the way
To visit a friend
Before returning to her country.
The conversation came easy
As he drank in her words,
And she told him
Of her hopes and dreams,
And he told her
Things he had never
Told anyone lese before.
She unleashed in him
The will to live
And a passion for adventure.
He told her of all the things
He would like to do,
Inventing new ones on the spot,
Getting more and more excited
With each possibility
That came out of his mouth.
He was so wrapped up
In the vision created,
That he didn't even notice
As the stop
That he should have taken
Came and went.
Neither person ever made it
To their intended destination
That day or the next.
They ended up
Spending the night together
In a downtown hotel
Creating a fantasy
That was real.
He suddenly had a taste
Of what life could be,
And he had no desire
To go back to
The life he had.
It was a chance encounter
That might never have happened
Had things originally gone his way.