Diamond in the rough: A silent laugh with strangers.

After a failed attempt to find an art gallery and the movie Julie and Julia, which overall was inspirational but dragged a bit in the middle and was disappointing in the end, I had a unique experience on the metro.

Usually, everyone on the metro wears their serious, worn out, or sad faces. They look through each other. They scrutinize the way others are dressed, and they definitely DON'T talk to strangers. But tonight was different.

In a good mood and feeling confident and a little talkative, I got on the metro with a sparkle in my eye. I watched others get on, and I noticed a group of three people who sat down across from me - a couple and their friend.

After the train left the station, the woman asked for a piece of gum. Her boyfriend didn't have any, so the friend looked in his bag and pulled out a piece of gum. It was a little crumpled, yet overall it looked all right.

The girl took it and stared at it like it was something alien, "What is this? What's wrong with it? Why is it all crumpled up?" she accusingly asked the friend.

He sort of shrugged, and she opened the wrapper, figured the gum was ok, and stuck it in her mouth.

In this midst of this, I couldn't help thinking about a parallel situation from high school. A good friend of mine often had "random snacks" in her sweater pockets and would offer them to people, regardless of the state. Maybe you'd like a Sour Patch Kid? or a saltine? Needless to say, I couldn't hide the smirk on my face which quickly turned into a giggle when the boyfriend and friend noticed my smirk.

The situation took a turn for the extraordinary when the boyfriend turned to the woman and told her that I thought the situation was funny. We all exchanged smiles and shaking of heads. Then the friend pulled out a piece of candy for himself, and the boyfriend asked, "What else do you have in there?", looked at me and sort of shook his head. I still couldn't stop giggling - maybe he had a Sour Patch Kid ...

At this point, the four of us were openly having a silent conversation. The friend took out another piece of candy and offered it to me - what was I supposed to do? refuse? "Thanks." The whole situation was ridiculous.

Finally, the boyfriend looked at his friend ... "What? Do you have more?" "Nothing. That's it." The friend turned his bag upside down to show that there was nothing else and shared his piece of candy with the boyfriend. "Eh, what do you do?"