This is a story about how Bob became Calm:

Bob always tried to become the things he saw as strong or balanced. He went to business school because business, until Armageddon or the Second Coming, would always be around. He attended community developmental programs because he wanted to keep his mind sharp and learn things he previously didn’t know. He always tried to be punctual and arrive with something new, because in his eyes his being any place meant he was providing something.

And Bob did all of this to compensate for a lack of chaos he saw in himself.

On an overcast Sunday in a chilly November, Bob decided to head to the local coffee shop and grab a warm beverage and watch the other people pass by. He grabbed his messenger bag and started to walk out of his apartment as he ran into some of his floor tenants on the elevator. One of them was a girl he had recently tried to go on a date with, but was dismissed for her stating she was too busy. He nodded to her and she did the same as he passed by on his way out of the apartment complex and into the brisk breeze outside.

Bob walked a few blocks to his favorite local coffee shop and arrived to see a couple shovel in through the front door. He smiled and walked in behind them, the man holding the door for Bob.

“Thanks,” Bob said with a smile.

“Of course.”

Bob stood behind the couple as they whispered to each other what they wanted to have. Bob trailed off his view to the outside window as it began to snow gently in the soft wind. His eyes were fixed on the window as Christmas lights around the glass began to pulse and fade.

“Can I help you,” asked a somber cashier. Her facial expression was that of an unamused, elderly librarian to snickering jokes of nearby teenagers.

“Oh,” Bob spurted, “yes please. Could I have a large black coffee?”

“Yeah. Sure. $2.20, please.”

Bob fumbled out his wallet and handed the cashier a five dollar bill and told her to keep the change. She dismissed the smile he had and threw the change in a jar labeled, “TIPS are what REAL people work for.” Bob couldn’t help but smile at the thought of other workers that make tips that were surely in this establishment making his freshly-ish brewed coffee. He stood for a moment and looked at the decor he knew too well trimmed against the ceiling and walls until another despondent, skinny cashier yelled some garbled nonsense about his beverage. He raised a hand and grabbed his cup as the girl gave a forced smile and walked back to the kitchen.

Bob sighed and walked to an empty seat in the open area of the coffee shop. Few people were here, but those that were there were either couples or groups that were discussing popular topics or soft dialogues. Bob took a seat next to a table beside another window peering out to the now slow motion downpour of snow. He peeled off his bag and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He sipped his drink and jerked at how hot it was, then smirked because he realized that he should have expected it to be hot.

Bob lifted up his head to peer around the room again and saw the couple he’d entered with secretly kissing behind a menu at their table, a group of college students discussing some particular political point of view, and the cashiers and baristas speaking to one another and scoffing at slight whispers behind hands to ears. He tapped his pen against the paper and sipped his beverage again. Slowly, he turned his head outside to look past the road and pedestrians to the park that seemed like it had a thin sheet of snow on top of it. An idea struck him and he began to write some words on the paper, slowly making sentences, then paragraphs, then pages.

Bob had sat there for a few hours until the daylight turned to night lights cast from streetlights into the coffee shop’s dim windows. He lifted his head to see the progress he’d made and decided that was enough for one night. He gathered his things together in his bag, slung it against his side, and got up to get another coffee. A different cashier stood at the counter and smiled at Bob as he approached.

“Hello sir. What can I getcha?”

“Could I please get another black coffee to go?”

“For sure. That will be $2.20.”

Bob again took out a five dollar bill and told her to keep the change. The girl beamed and then smiled at Bob.

“Thank you very much, sir. I’ll have it out for you in a moment.”

Bob nodded and the adjusted his bag as the cashier came out from the back with is beverage. She gave it to him with a wink.

“Have a good night, sir.”

“One can hope.”

Bob thanked the girl and then walked out of the coffee shop to brave the cold that struck his exposed hands and face. He sipped his beverage as he walked the few blocks home, slowly careful of other pedestrians and cars passing him by. He arrived home and entered the front door of his complex to hear a giggle emerge from the closing elevator door. He shrugged, walked to the elevator, and pressed the button for the elevator to come back down.

The door opened and Bob entered before pressing his floor button and leaning against the cold steel chassis of the elevator. The ride was smooth and as the doors opened to his floor, he saw the female that denied him making out with a man in the hallway outside her apartment door. Bob looked down and walked forward, trying not to draw attention to himself as he passed them to arrive at his door. She looked up to see Bob as he passed and pulled away for the man. She’d dug in her purse clumsily and after cursing under her breath in quick, tipsy slurs found her keys and shoved them in the tumbler. Bob looked back at her as she connected eyes with him just before pulling the man inside her apartment and closing the door behind her.

Bob again sighed, unlocked his apartment, entered his living room, and shut the door behind him as he walked to his bedroom to try and dream about something else.

And that is the story about how Bob became Calm.