One of the more favored instructors was teaching Sunday school that morning. He was married and probably in his early forties, though, since we were all in the throes of puberty, we thought that he was already rather old.

He spoke to us about fidelity in relationships.

“So what do you do if you’re married and you see a pretty woman? Is it a sin to look at her?” a precocious junior high student asked. We all giggled with embarrassment.

“Well,” the instructor stalled. A big, toothy grin crossed his face. His mouth seemed disproportionately sized to his jaw. “Being faithful to your wife or husband is important. However, God does make some people really handsome or pretty.”

He paused for effect. We all looked at him, breathless. What is he going to say about cheating eyes???

“When I see a pretty woman,” he finally said, smirking, “I look at her, praise God and think, ‘AMEN!’, and keep walking!”

It’s the way that he said “AMEN!” that made us all laugh. It’s as if he was cheering at a football game.

He had just picked up a styrofoam cup brimming with black coffee from the counter. Though young—he was probably in his late twenties—his stooped posture suggested that he felt much older. He turned around, took a sip from the cup, and scanned the crowd with his dark eyes.

He was looking at my face when I noticed him. Like a roaming butterfly, my gaze quickly left his face and flitted to other faces in the crowd. I was looking for a specific individual. This man was not the object of my search.

“Hey,” he said as I approached. My eyes returned to his face, which now sported a playful smile. Having captured my attention, he extended his arm and held out the cup of coffee to me. “Can you hold this for me for a second?”

I automatically took the cup of coffee from his hand and examined its contents: serpentine, grey wisps of steam floated from the warm ink within the small white cup. When I looked up, I saw that he was lazily stretching his back. He continued to smile at me.

“I’ve got back problems,” he commented. After raising his arms up in the air, he asked, “So… what brings you here?”

“I’m looking for someone,” I replied, realizing that this cup of coffee was actually a leash.

“Oh—but not me?” he continued.

“No,” I answered. I extended my arm and held out the cup of coffee to him and asked, “Would you like your coffee back now?”

It was actually a command. Please take your coffee.

He looked at me, pouting. “Just because I’ve got back problems doesn’t mean I can’t make you a very, very happy woman,” he commented.

After shooting him a dark look, I unceremoniously placed his cup of coffee back onto the counter so he could retrieve it.

As I walked away, I heard another man kindly offer, “Here, I’ll hold your coffee for you.”

“I don’t want you to hold my coffee,” the young man impatiently answered. “Hey, excuse me, miss—yeah, you—can you hold this for me for a second…?”

A note to loyal readers of intueri: Posting shall be (really) spotty between now and June 2nd, 2008. You may astutely wonder, “What’s happening between now and June 2nd?”

Well. Let me tell you: Lots of transition.

In addition to managing the details of my relocation to New York City, getting rid of or otherwise selling most of my material belongings in Seattle, spending quality time with my dear friends as my tenure in Seattle rapidly dwindles, slogging through online orientations and documentation for my next job, and tending to the other details in life, I am studying for my psychiatry board exam. My exam date is June 2nd.

The amount of reading and studying I do is inversely proportional to the amount of writing I do. And though I need only pass the exam, my study habits aim for doing well on the exam. (At least I know I’m overly compulsive.)

Thus, feel free to send warm fuzzies and good luck juju (…?) to me between now and June 2nd (particularly on June 2nd). I anticipate posting shall return to the pre-studying frequency once the exam is out of the way.

Thank you for your continued readership and patronage. :)