How a Banana Saved my Monday

 

If you’re anything like me, your Monday morning started off something like this:

 

5.45am: My alarm rings but I mistake it for a fire engine. After all, one can dream of shirtless NYC firefighters, right?

I turn to hit the ‘snooze’ button yet unknowingly shut off the alarm instead.

 

6.22am: I awake in a cold sweat, realizing that I’ve overslept and my hero in suspenders is just my imagination…thanks to the atomic hot wings I ate last night.

 

My hair needs ironing and my skirt needs shampooing.  Or perhaps the other way around…No matter.

 

7.38am: I bound out the door with a half-eaten piece of dry toast in my mouth and a cup of coffee, some of which has found its way onto my freshly-shampooed skirt.

 

8.20am: I am riding the lucky subway that unexpectedly halts in the tunnel…for 5, 10, now 15 minutes. My hopes of arriving on time for my 9:00am meeting are dashed. Better make fast friends with my seat mates.  It’s gonna be a while.

 

8.49am: I run down the street faster than a NYC bike messenger after an espresso. My stomach growls with hunger pangs because a half-eaten piece of toast isn’t on the list of well-balanced breakfasts in anyone’s book.

 

9.05am: I jump inside a nearby fruit store to buy the first piece of fruit I see.

Ah, a banana! Yes, yes, I’ll take it!

 

After having grabbed this yellow beacon of hope in a hurry, I heard a whistle.

 

Not one of those  “Hey baby, you look good in that freshly-shampooed skirt”  kind of whistle…

But a whistle as if to say “Hey lady, turn around, you’ve got toilet paper stuck to your shoe” kind of way.

 

So I did just that.  I turned around.  The shop owner was whistling at me in order to catch my attention.

 

I mimed to him that I was going to pay for the banana, fearing he thought I would run off with this golden goodie.

 

Without a word and to my surprise, he walked towards me and pointed to the banana I had chosen. I only then noticed it was overripe and mushy.

 

He smiled and covertly handed me another one…Fresher and yellower…That’s all.  I thanked the pure-hearted produce purveyor, paid and proceeded to my office.

 

I walked into my 9am meeting, late but with a smile.

 

He started my week off on the right fruit.