I stopped by the cafe at Borders Books this morning, and overheard the older gentleman in front of me talking about how quiet the store was today. The clerk confirmed that he was, in fact, the first customer he'd had in nearly 40 minutes.

The old guy seemed pretty cool—he was probably in his mid-70s, was wearing a suit, and had long, white hair. He looked like a cross between Marcus Aurelius from Gladiator and the Nature Boy, Ric Flair.



Anyway, when I got to the counter, I also commented on how it did seem more quiet than usual this morning. The older gentleman evidently heard me while stirring his coffee; because as he passed by moments later, he nodded to me and said—very dramatically, I might add—"Quiet does have it's place..." I smiled in agreement as I replied "Oh, it definitely does."

It was one of those odd moments that felt like a movie... As though we were two veteran assassins who had paused for a coffee break; and now were moments away from shattering this precious silence with an epic, Matrix-style gun battle in the Borders parking lot.

The gun battle, of course, never happened. That's just the image that our little exchange conjured up. If I ever find myself in an epic, Matrix-style gun battle, though, I'll be sure to use that quote. "Quiet does have it's place..." Although, admittedly, I may punctuate it with a Ric Flair "Whooo!"