• It was a chilly day in February when a man sat on a subway, slowly sipping his cup of joe. He had an overly stuffed backpack and a large briefcase. His pudgy fingers fumbled through papers, and every once in a while you would hear him sigh. He had tons and tons of files, and in those files tons and tons of papers. He flipped another page and then sighed, a sigh with joy, with sadness? No one knows.
    He read:

    ~IVY WILLOBY
    Born on May 2, 1978, Single mom with one daughter,
    Survivor of breast cancer, former waitress and school teacher,
    Currently unemployed and suffers from a severe case of debt.


    The world is an evil place, he thought, It’s a shame no one appreciates it enough. Then, he slipped the file of Amy Brown in his backpack, sighed, and then turned to look at the next file.
    He read:

    ~CLAYTON BROWN
    Born on October 2, 1991, son of Martha and Jack Willoby,
    Smoked for two years in high school, highest grades in high school
    Graduating class, ran away from home at 19, location is now unknown.

    Smoking is a terrible habit he thought, while taking out a cigar and his liter. A terrible, terrible, habit. Ah Clayton, you’re such a smart boy, too bad you don’t care. He cringed thinking about his past.
    He slipped the file of Clayton Willoby in his backpack, sighed, and then turned to look at the next file, but this time, he did not sigh.
    He read:

    ~ JACK PUFFING
    Bar tender, engaged twice, currently lives in a loft in LA.

    The man smiled, and laughed to himself. Just what I need, he thought.

    Suddenly, the subway stopped and a young mother with her daughter boarded the bus. The daughter was like a little angel. She was about 6 years old and had a full head of curly blond hair that lay under a black cap. She was just the kind of young girl that would sit and listen to a story for hours.

    The young women looked puzzled about were to sit. The bus was so full and the only two empty seats were near and rough and tumbled man with a half-empty cup of coffee, and a cigar stuck down his throat. Though, the woman used the space to her advantage, and she sat down.

    The girl looked up at the man, and since doing that, she got a breathfull of smokey air from his cigar.
    She coughed and waved her hand in front of her small face, trying to get rid of the smoke lurking in her throat and the horrid smell.

    The man realized this and put out the cigar in the nearest cigarette tray. Once he sat back down, then girl smiled.
    She timidly then said "Hello".
    Her mother was very cautious, she didn't want her daughter talking to strangers, let alone this one.

    "Hello" the man said back.
    "Where are you going?" she asked.
    "What? Oh," he realized "I don't quite know," he said with a chuckle, "I've seem to forgot."
    The girl's laugh echoed the tubby mans.
    "Oh, well mommy and I are heading towards Saramento"
    "Ah, thats actually exactly where I was going, it's quite beautiful there, you know?" the man informed her.
    "Yep" the girl answered.

    Then, there was an awkward silence in the two's conversation.


    The blond's mother was beginning to get second thoughts about the man. Not bad thoughts, good thoughts.

    "So, whats your name?" the man said, finally breaking the silence.
    "Emily" the girl said proudly, "Emily Wiloby......What's your name?"
    "My name?" the man said
    "Yeah your name..........what's your name?" Emily repeated.

    "Well, my name is Jack." He laughed. "Jack Puffing".

    And the man, Jack, looked right into the Emily's eyes with a big bright excited smile.