Halle Butler: Jillian

“Oh, yeah. You know there’s still good people in the world.”

“That is right. You know, I was working all weekend at those two Temptations shows. You like the Temptations?”

“Oh, yeah, Big Daddy Williams.”

“Oh yeah! So I was dancing with my girl, taking a break from working, and my phone slipped out of my pocket. And it was, like, the end of it for me. I thought I was going to lose my position. Because I’m my own boss. But I can’t do my work without those contacts.”

The other guy nodded. The loud guy continued.

“But then this lady called my girl up and said she had my phone. And now here you are, lending me your cell phone. And that’s just so great of you, man. I mean, I might have lost everything if you hadn’t lent me your phone, I’m serious.”

“Well, I believe that good deeds are returned. And I believe that we’re all in the right place at the right time to help each other out or to not help each other out, depending on the way we feel moved to act. It’s an invisible impulse, but I think, and I don’t know if this is too much to say, but I think it’s something else that’s telling us how to act.”

“That’s a deep feeling, friend,” said the loud guy.

The two guys continued to talk about the invisible accidents of politeness and cruelty or whatever and, eventually, Megan tuned them out and turned to the window.

HALLE BUTLER is a writer living in Chicago. Jillian is her first novel.