Every Wednesday and Thursday I chit-chat with the man in my building who we’ll call Joseph. Joseph and I must be on the same morning schedule on those days, because I always run into him. Although I know very little about Joseph, we always seem to have pleasant small talk.
One Thursday, I was complaining to Joseph about my hectic morning the day prior. I was an hour and a half late to work because the subways were delayed. He empathized, and agreed with me: the subways can be unreliable. He told me that’s why he bikes to work everyday. I told him I wish I had a bike.
He laughed… and I wasn’t sure why.
But for a couple of weeks after that, we talked a lot about biking. I told him I was planning to get a bike.
“Oh, so you really do bike?” He asked me, looking surprised.
“Yeah!” I said, “I actually have one at home but haven’t been able to go get it and bring it back here.”
We both agreed that biking is so much quicker, easier, and a lot more fun than public transportation. We also talked about the shortcomings: how they are hard to ride in the winter or when it rains. Our conversations went on like this until I ran into him one evening.
Joseph was wearing a denim Harley Davidson jacket and holding a motorcycle helmet. I immediately realized that we had been talking about different kinds of ‘bikes’ this whole time.
…I still haven’t told him that I have no idea how to ride a motorcycle.
