Small Talks

One thing about my father is how at ease he is with strangers.

This is also the trait which gets us to do things we’d never, in our mind-our-own-business kind of ways, get to do. For example, during our trips in the 90s, either on our Los Angeles or Orlando vacations, he managed to get permission for my younger brother to sit on a real Harley Davidson.

Not from a showroom mind you, but from a group of real deal American bikers with bulking biceps, tattooed arms, long beards and all. I simply stood on the side, hardly breathing, imaging the headlines in next day’s papers.

And travelling with him is fun because we can go to any place knowing nothing and end up knowing lots of insider stories because he can chat with anyone easily.

Just imagine, he is the kind of taxi passenger who will leave a taxi ride, with the driver coming out the car to shake hands- because they have exchanged all kinds of stories that sometimes we would know the background of the driver and even his family!

I just wished that one of the taxi which we took during our recent trip together was his.