2019-05-07 - Near Collision on the Boardwalk

Summary:

A near-collision on the boardwalk turns a little philosophical, and a favor is owed.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Tue May 7 01:32:22 2019
Location: Coney Island

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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avril-kincaidjonathan-gallo

Memorial Day really marks the opening of the tourist season, and it's only just turned May, so the boardwalk at Coney Island is still a bit sparse. It sits just on the edge of the Disaster Zone, and the damage can be seen from the end of the boardwalk. Closer to the amusements, though? It's almost as though people had forgotten the destruction of four years ago.

Jon Gallo slow rolls down the boardwalk on a skateboard, his hands in his pockets, idly weaving in and out of those few folks who are out on it, either coming in and out of the shops that are open, or stopping by Nathan's to grab a hot dog. He's barely paying attention, but he easily weaves back and forth, no collisions imminent.


On a day as pleasant as this — not too hot, not too cold, not too crowded, not too empty — one really ought to at least try to be in a good mood. If Avril is trying, however, she's doing a really damned poor job of it. She's over by the railing at the edge of the boardwalk, resting her arms on the top rail and leaning over to glower out at the beach and the ocean beyond. Scowling. Definitely scowling.

Not even being mostly out of sight of the Zone is enough to put a smile on her face, apparently. She's rather casually dressed, in a red top and blue jeans, with a pale beige scarf around her neck; so at least she's not cranky because she's working. Then — with little warning — she pivots away from the railing and starts across toward the shops on the other side.


When Avril suddenly goes to turn, she almost walks right into Jon as he is rolling by. He just happened to be looking the other way at the time, so by the time he catches her out of the corner of his eye, it's a little late for a graceful swerve out of the way, and instead he pulls up short, stopping suddenly and kicking the skateboard up into his hand so that it doesn't go rolling away, grabbing onto the railing with the other and pulling himself up to sit on int not far from where she had been glowering at the sea. "Ocean do something to piss you off?" he asks idly from where he sits. He's got on a pair of jeans and sneakers, and a black t-shirt with the image of black and white yin/yang dragons intertwined.


The idea that she might bump into someone apparently didn't even cross Avril's mind, which is probably why she's momentarily rooted to the spot as soon as she catches sight of Jon. If someone slightly less good at stopping on a dime had been heading toward her, disaster might not have been averted! And as soon as she realizes this, her manner goes from annoyed to apologetic with a snap of the proverbial fingers.

"Oh, geez, I am /so/ sorry," she says, turning back toward the rail to follow him with a solicitiousness that's just shy of over the top. "Are you okay? That was totally my fault, it's a miracle I didn't get knocked on my ass. I usually look where I'm going, just — well —" His question's brought her up short. And now she looks a little abashed. "I guess not really, no. Not fair of me to get cranky at it when it didn't do anything."


Jonathan Gallo balances the board across his knees where he sits on the rail and grins a little curiously as she goes from angry at the world, to suddenly overly apologetic. "I'm fine," he reassures her. "Look, all in one piece. Not a scratch on me. No harm, no foul." He glances out toward the water and then back toward her. "Well, I mean you can. I don't think it'll care either way. But you seemed kind of upset. You alright?" he turns the question back around on her.


Although she still doesn't look convinced that she hasn't committed a dreadful error that's caused Jon some horrifying internal injury that he's bravely hiding from her because … reasons, Avril has the good grace to stop fussing once it becomes clear that if she did, he's certainly not about to admit it. "Sorry about that, all the same," she says, as a last token of her embarrassment. Nor can she help but laugh at his turn of phrase: "True enough. The ocean's not going to be bothered no matter how peeved I get at it. It's dumb, I'm just annoyed because work called my partner in and this is supposed to be, you know, our day off, spend time together, kind of thing." She grimaces.


Jonathan Gallo does seem quite in one piece, not even a strand of white hair out of place on his head. And if he is suffering some terrible hidden injury, it doesn't seem to be dampening his mood at all. "No problem, really," he says when she apologizes again. Grinning a bit, he says, "That's a bummer. You finally get some time off and the office drags you back in. They gotta work all day, or is there a chance you can do something later?" He glances around. It's getting on toward late afternoon, early evening already, but one never knows. Some people are night owls.


"I'm not sure," Avril admits, now somewhere between embarrassed and irked at /not/ being sure. "It's one of those jobs where you stay until it's done, and that could be in an hour or it could be Thursday. What really makes it terrible for me to get annoyed is that I have one of those jobs, too, so usually /I'm/ the one who pulls the disappearing act." She gives a shamefaced smile. "What annoys you is what annoys you about yourself, right? That's what I read, anyway. Anyway, I shouldn't go on about it." An offered hand. "I'm Avril."


"Is it?" Jon asks with a curious smile. "Never thought of it that way. Now I'm going to be second-guessing everything that I'm annoyed about and wondering if I'm just a huge asshole." Probably not, but it does make him grin. Extending a hand, he takes hers in a friendly shake and says, "Jon. Nice to meet you, Avril. My job isn't that sort of job. I mostly tutor kids, so when the school day is over, I'm pretty much left to my own devices."


Learning about Jon's occupation draws a smile from Avril, who's obviously pleased to hear it, even if there's no indication of why. "I'm not sure if there's anything to it," she admits. "If I get annoyed at people who are always late, does that mean I'm prone to being late, or does it just mean that I'm super picky about my own lateness and get annoyed if I'm five minutes overdue? Kind of makes it, um, what's the word? Unfalsifiable. And if it can't really be false it's not very informative. Oh, do you like it?" she asks, jumping conversational tracks without so much as a hint of warning. "Working with kids, I mean? I used to work in a day care center, which is … not really the same thing but sort of vaguely related, I guess?"


"Maybe. I guess the question is — are you always early because you get annoyed with people who are late and thus you compensate by not being hypocritical by being late yourself?" Jon asks, philosophizing a little bit, though with an easy sort of grin and a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess I could see it in that light. I hate when people leave like half a sip of something in the fridge instead of buying a new carton of orange juice, so I always buy a new one before the old one is almost done." He nods and says, "Yeah. I mean, I got kind of mixed up as a kid, and I like to help be there for others, give them a place to go so they don't end up doing some of the stupid things I did."


Avril gives a rueful grin. "This, right here? This is why I never did very well in philosophy classes," she says. Fortunately, however, another topic is near at hand. "That's really cool of you," she says; "not everybody would think to go that way. I've known … well, some people who sort of let the dumb things they did when they were young end up shaping the rest of their lives. And I always feel kind of bad about it, even if, well, maybe most of them are perfectly okay with their lives being that way." A little frown tugs at one corner of her mouth; she might be underselling that this bugs her, but bug her it certainly does.


"Well, they kind of have in a way. I mean, in the sense that if I hadn't done the dumb things that I've done, I wouldn't have had the experiences that I'm trying to help other kids not have, you know?" He then shakes his head and says, "Some people don't learn, and some people do, but then don't really have the energy or time or resources to give back. It's okay, really. Not everyone needs to do that. It's just how I chose to go about it."


"Hm." Avril's giving the idea some thought, although she doesn't really seem certain one way or the other so far. "I guess. In the sense that we're all sort of the sum of our different experiences … okay, sure. Anyway, I just think it's cool that you went that way. There's a lot of people out there who could use the help, after all. Like you say, it doesn't make anybody bad if they /don't/ do it, but … ugh, I'm going to talk all day if I get on this track. Sorry. For someone who's not very good at philosophy," she goes on, with a smile, "I sure think too much."


"Nothing wrong with that," Jon says with a shake of his head. "Better to be overly thoughtful than thoughtless." He grins then and glances over toward the shops. "Were you heading anywhere in particular, or did I stop you from something that you needed to do?" He suddenly realizes that he kind of cut her off when she seemed to have someplace to go.


Laughing, Avril shakes her head. "No, no," she says, waving a hand, "I was just going to stalk over and be annoyed that everything I'm interested in is closed right now, and then my bad mood would have had a focus while I waited to hear that there's no point in sticking around and I should just go home and get started on supper." She flashes a smile. "See, this is much better."


"Well, then I guess it's fortunate that I almost ran you over," Jon says with a bit of a grin. "I'll try not to make too much of a habit of it, though. One of these times, my luck is going to run out and then.. splat." He makes a kind of gesture with one hand hitting the pavement. "Messy." He asks then, "So what do you do, anyway, that has you running off at all times with no idea how long its' going to be? Doctor?"


"It really is, if you think about it," Avril agrees, with what's presumably self-conscious irony. "I probably ought to owe you a favor for it. Or at least for the 'almost' part of 'almost ran over'." She pats the back of her neck, avoiding the question for a precious moment more before she has to answer. "Oh, no, nothing like that. I work for the government. Helping, ah, clean up disasters and, well, trying to keep new ones from happening. It's steady work, I can say that much for it," she adds, trying for humor and partly failing.


"Ah," Jon says, and perhaps surprisingly, doesn't ask any further after that. Then he laughs and says, "You do owe me a favor, then." He hands his phone over to her after pulling it from his pocket. "Here, text yourself something. Maybe someday I'll have need of someone who cleans up disasters of a magnitude slightly less than governmental, and I'll give you a ring."


She takes the phone, too relieved not to have to answer any questions on the subject to worry about why they aren't forthcoming. "Sure thing," she says, and takes a moment to think about what to text before a smile lights her face, and she taptaptaps away for several seconds before handing it back. "There. That'll help me remember who you are," she says. The text says 'This is a reminder to look where you're going! :)', and of course the smiley-face is included.


Jonathan Gallo laughs a little bit when he sees the text that Avril has tapped into his phone, and raises it to her in a silent salute. "Alright. I need to get back, but it was nice meeting you, Avril, and watch where you're going on the way home." He gives her a grin and a wink as he hops down off the rail then and back onto his skateboard. "Catch you around."


"Take care!" Avril says, raising a hand to wave. "Hopefully next time we meet it'll be a little less haphazard." She seems to positively enjoy teasing herself about the near-accident, as she's smiling when she says it.


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