2.1 Tim

“Ridiculous," thought Tim. He was jammed onto the subway, and he literally worried about the safety implications of having so many people crammed into one space. He knew his butt was pushing against someone's belly behind him, and he had another person's backpack against his chest. He had one arm raised to grab the handle bar, and the other clutched his briefcase.

It had been just about 2 weeks since his car was totalled, and he just about had the hang of this commuting thing - most days it wasn't too bad. But then, most days he didn't travel at rush hour. 5pm was definitely worse than his usual 7pm, especially on a Friday evening in the summer.

It would be at least two more months before his new car would be delivered, and although Tim knew could have rented a car, he continued on with the subway. Indeed, some of his buddies were now in the habit of teasing him about his motives for “riding the rocket” as the ads said, but he had nothing to hide. Flip flop woman was hot, he was determined to find her again, and that was all there was to it.

He thought he would have run into her by now, but maybe she wasn't a regular subway commuter. Then again, his schedule hadn’t been very consistent; the new job required him to be in different offices on some days, so he left the house at varying times depending on his intended destination.

The train shot out of the tunnel and rattled across the bridge over the Don River valley. This was one of his favourite parts of the ride - ok, the only good part - because the valley was amazing. He liked to check out the bike and jogging trails, and longed for a free evening to try out his new bike. Plus, at this point on the ride home he knew a large part of the crowd was about to exit the train and he would soon be able to breathe again.

Brrrrrt. Brrrrrt.

As he and the rest of the travellers re-entered the tunnel on the other side of the valley, his still-new blackberry vibrated at his hip. Apparently the brief time the train travelled outside was enough to get a signal. He struggled to manoeuvre enough free arm space to reach down and unclip the device.

Sent Using: Peer-to-peer
Message Status: Opened
To: Tim Jennings
Sent: July 20, 2007 5:20 PM
From: Josh Doyle
Subject: BEER!

Hey T. Any sign of Hot Flips? We’re hitting the patio after vball. You in? J.

It was a perfect night for volleyball down at the beach. He hadn't played in a really long time, but his buddies had thrown together a rec team and they needed him to sub. Volleyball, sand, a warm evening and a couple of drafts would be a perfect way to start the weekend.

He tapped back a message, ignoring the reference to Miss Flip Flops.

Sent Using: Peer-to-peer
Message Status: Delivered
To: Josh Doyle
Sent: July 20, 2007 5:28 PM
From: Tim Jennings
Subject: Re: BEER!

I’m in. See you at 6:30. T.

He walked out of the station and climbed on the waiting bus that would take him down to his house by the water. And, although it was less crowded than the train, Tim ended up standing yet again.

As the bus started to pull away from the curb, he watched people rush up out of the subway only to realize they had missed the bus and would have to wait at least another ten minutes for the next one. "Now that's a crappy feeling," he thought. “At this point in the day you just want to get home."

Suddenly he saw a familiar head slowly emerging on the bus platform, brown hair bent over thumbs that were flying over the keys of her blackberry. She looked gorgeous, again, and this time her flip flops accompanied white pants and a pink shirt that clung in all the right places.

"Dammit!" he thought as the bus pulled away.