The kindness of strangers

Last week I read this post in which a friend of mine had her dinner paid for by an anonymous stranger. "Nothing like that ever happens to me," I thought (and said out loud to CameraMan, who rolled his eyes).

Then, last night, I got about as close as I will likely ever get. The internet isn't hooked up at CM's place yet, so the past couple days I've had to get creative and actually, you know, venture outside the apartment to blog, email, etc. Last night I stopped in at the Red Lion for free wi-fi, Blue Moon, and mini burgers. When I was about half done with my dinner (and my blog post), the waitress came over to let me know that my dinner had been paid for by (and here she pointed) that man at the bar. "But I don't know him!" I protested. However, knowing that you should never look a gift dinner in the mouth, I didn't protest for long. Since he showed no signs of coming over to talk to me or waiting to stalk me to my car (he left the restaurant soon after he was outed by the waitress), it seemed harmless, a random act of kindness by a stranger. Why not?

For a few brief moments I basked in the after-glow. "Louisa just had her dinner bought by a complete stranger!" my Facebook status crowed. It didn't last long. The waitress came back over to apologize that she hadn't been able to figure out how to transfer my dinner to the guy's tab, so he had not, in fact paid for my meal. So sorry about that, but would I like another beer?

I think this is the best I am going to get: the hypothetical kindness of a stranger. That's okay. I am completely capable of paying for my own meal, and in fact was planning to do so. But I have to say, for those few moments, I felt good. And hypothetically good can't be all bad, right?