Pleased to Meter

Story Sent in by Courtney:

In high school, Travis (who was a junior, like me) and I met up one evening in a quaint downtown area that was lined with parked cars on both sides of the street. When I first encountered him, I saw him filling a parking meter, I assumed, for his own car.

He said, "I'm doing my good deed for the day." He pointed up and down the road. "All these meters were expired. I'm tossing a quarter into every meter so they hopefully won't get tickets."

I replied, "That's really nice of you, but after six, it's free to park at the meters."

He froze and stared as if I had just ripped out the collective guts of his family and knotted them together into warm, moist, but surprisingly functional jump rope. His mouth made a weird square shape that still chills me. He emitted a cry and slapped at the closest meter.

"Travis!" I said, "Stop! It's not going to give you your money back!"

"I hate this place!" he screamed, then ran away.

As we were both in the same high school class, it was inevitable that we'd bump into each other again. I told my best friend the story, which in retrospect was like telling the entire school over the loudspeaker. Word spread quick, and whether because of that or not, Travis never breathed another word to me.