Mind the Gap | ✔️

March 10 @ 9:33 A.M.: Iris

Donut worry. Be happy.

And I was happy with the six delicious, deep-fried rings in my Dunkin' Donuts tote bag. And a lahge regulah to go with the carbs.

Our happy hour is every hour, our coffee is Dunkin',  I sang inwardly to myself.

Today, Rena would be eagerly waiting for me and my stack of annular pastries. She'd better leave some for our author guest, though.

The train doors opened at South Station. A mother with two young boys boarded, all three dragging their feet. The group split up, approaching passengers and begging for pocket change.

A starving lioness and her two hungry cubs.

Most of the passengers averted their eyes from the silent eye-pleas and extended sooty palms. I guessed it was easier to pretend the trio wasn't even there.

I couldn't tear my gaze away from the youngest, coal-eyed boy. He wore a green coat: tattered, battered, and threadbare; frayed at the cuffs, shabby, and patched. A couple of sizes too big, it looked like an older brother's hand-me-down.

Sensing an opportunity for connection, the mini cub approached and bathed me in a shy smile, stretching out his hand. "Please, lady," was all he said.

I paused for a split second.

Jayden strongly disapproved of me giving money or food to beggars.

"Think about it, Iris." I could hear his voice in my head. "Giving money to beggars will never teach them to be self-sufficient. It will encourage them to stay on the streets and beg all their life. Begging has become a pity market. Giving money to someone who has no contribution towards the society is stupid."

The donuts rattled in the box inside my bag, whispering among themselves and outvoting Jayden-thoughts. I opened it without thinking, and my gaze fell on Mr. Happy.

Spread happiness was my life motto.

I might have been on and off working on my new illustration project about fairies, but I also loved pretending I was one.

A fairy to bring a little bit of magic to this world!

"Here you go, sweetie. You need this smile more than I do." I pushed Mr. Happy onto the cub's sooty palm.

That was what life was all about. Leaving your comfort zone of "me-ness" and connecting to the non-comfort zone of the "other-ness."

The lioness joined her cub. She nodded at me with a small smile of gratitude and pulled the kid away.

I had five donuts left to share with Rena and Mr. Famous.

Donuts were our morning ritual. Something Jay-Jay knew nothing about.

He might not approve of it. But neither did I approve of his stalling whenever I asked about the publication of my fairy illustrations. Last time we had talked about them, he had complained about their title.

"Fairy Tails?" Jayden had said, laughing. "Is that supposed to be a pun? Iris, you can't make a joke of everything."

Was I making a joke out of everything?

As I pondered this, the train followed its daily course. Subway stations came and went in a blur. People squatted the seat across from me and left again.

I winced when we left the tunnels and emerged into the light of the day, the bright sun bothering my eyes.

A "Charles/MGH" passed the window as the train slowed down.