23. Ana
CHAPTER 23
ANA
O ne day, later in my first month of working for Community Bean, there’s a heavy rainstorm following an unusually long dry period.
My morning commute becomes complicated when I turn on my windshield wipers and they stutter across the glass, not making contact well enough to keep the window clear. After they squeak along for half a minute or so, a piece of the rubber comes loose, causing even more of a distraction, and making me worry that my windshield is getting scratched.
The rain is so heavy that I have to pull over at one point, but because I left the house early, I manage to arrive at work only ten minutes late. It turns out I’m not the only one who had a difficult drive in, because when I drop off my lunch in the break room, a group is gathered there, talking about the weather. At one point, I mention my wipers, asking if anyone knows the closest place to buy new ones, and I’m given a couple of recommendations from different people.
When I leave work in the evening, it’s still raining, but it’s more of a misty drizzle, which is a relief. Afraid that it might get heavy again, I still plan to buy new wiper blades on my way home, but when I get to my car, shiny black metal catches my eye. There’s no sign of the loose piece of rubber that was flopping around this morning, and when I turn my car on and flick on the wiper blades, they glide smoothly across the glass.
Someone replaced my wiper blades for me.
I think back to this morning when I talked about the damaged blades. There were several people in the room during the conversation, most of us huddled around talking, but there were also people coming in and out to make coffee or put food in the refrigerator.
I run through my memory, picturing the faces I remember, and I land on Owen from marketing. Maybe he did it? I think Charles from IT was in the room at one point, too, and maybe it’s something he’d do without saying anything?
I’d like to be able to thank whoever did it, because it was a really kind gesture, and I’m not good at fixing things, so I was hesitant about replacing the blades myself .
The next day, I’m hopeful that someone will take credit for the favor they did for me, but no one does, even when I try to give openings for it when I talk to both Owen and Charles. It seems that it’s going to remain a mystery, though it has me looking at people differently in the office.