PlatKat.com

I got a late start this morning, even later than usual. When I reached my bus stop, I discovered I had just missed it. They’re supposed to run every 10 minutes, but it was the top of the hour when they start running a little further apart. I reluctantly sought cover in one of the often nasty-smelling bus shelters along Fourth Avenue and waited.

There, instead of street-bum-stank residue, I found three things: A can of Pepsi, a quarter, and a Camel cigarette.

They were stacked together, as if left for an intended recipient. I was surprised someone would do such a thing, knowing the amount of foot-traffic on Fourth Avenue on a Monday morning. Weren’t they afraid the cigarette would get wet? Weren’t they worried that some or all of the items might be stolen? Who left this stuff? Who was it for?

Maybe it was for no one. Maybe someone just left it there. Maybe they left it there for someone like me, who reached her bus stop just a bit too late and had to wait forever in the increasingly abhorrent Seattle weather.

No… I don’t drink Pepsi, and I don’t want to smoke a cigarette, and I don’t need a quarter. I decided to practice the spirit of giving and contribute an item to the jackpot.

I added a condom.

Someone out there better have a really good day.