Once again into the breech.

Going on another date in ten minutes. I am getting pretty good at guessing how the relationship will end within ten minutes of meeting the person.

This guy fell out of tree last weekend because his roommate dared him to climb it.

Evolution might take care of this one.

I sing you to me

I decide to convince my co-worker to watch my patients while I "run downstairs real quick." Actually I'm going to run down three flights of stairs and three blocks away from the hospital to suck down an American Spirit, run back three blocks and up three flights of stairs, brush my teeth and berate myself for being a smoker.

On my way down the stairs a familiar head of dreadlocks looks up at me, holding his mop inside its bucket.

"Our energy is strong today."

Like always, I blush immediately, look at the ground, and doubt his sincerity. "Why is that?" I say.

"I thought you to me." I stare at him openly. "I was standing here cleaning these steps and I thought about you so hard that you came right to me." He is grinning ear to ear.

"Yeah right," I laugh a little too loudly and it echoes in the stairwell.

"You don't think I'm for real, but I am. Feel my heart beating right now," he gestures for me to put my hand on his chest. I reach out and put my hand on the right side of his chest. I then realize the human heart is on the left. We laugh. I look away and turn red.

"I know that I will see you again today," he smiles as he starts mopping.

I walk outside no longer craving a cigarette. I smoke one anyway.

I could never! Could I?

"You know that I see you, right? I see how you are with people and what you say. I know what kind of person you are even thought we haven't spoken."

His words snapped me out of my trance-like focus on organizing my patient's room. I turned to the doorway to see the man I've noticed many times but never spoken with. I am at a loss for words as he speaks to me. I haven't had such direct communication in a very long time.

"All day long I clean and I listen to everything that is going on around me. I see how people treat each other here. I know how kind you are. I know how much you love. I see you."

He is beautiful. Beautiful enough for me to walk slower when he's mopping the hallway and stare long enough to get teased by the other nurses. So beautiful I find it hard to respond to him as he's talking to me because I'm afraid I won't make any sense.

"You know me, huh?" I can feel the heat in my face.

"Yes. And you already know that you are beautiful, but I have to tell you anyway. I cannot stop looking at you. I think about when I'm going to see you again everyday. You are a goddess."

I am smiling, slouching and looking at the ground. He is staring steadily at me. It suddenly crosses my mind that maybe he has a bet with his friend that he can convince me to sleep with him. Maybe he has ten other girlfriends on other floors of the hospital. Maybe he has a wife and kids at home.

I stop smiling and look up. "I have no idea if you are for real," I tell him.

"I will prove this to you, then." He walks away carrying a bag of trash from my patient's room.