When are you going to finish that book?

Most people in the city know about my love affair with the bus. I love taking the bus for my commute for a couple of reasons. Some of those reasons have to do with the “joys” of the subway, e.g. cramming into a subway car, transferring lines, etc. I am also very vocal about how much I don’t miss driving. I love having someone else be my “driver,” whether it’s on the subway, bus or taxi. So I don’t fall into the I hate the subway category; for my commute I have just determined that the bus works out better for me. It takes me about 10 minutes longer – no big deal – and it allows me a solid 30 minutes to read.

I love pulling out my book in the morning and reading. I can usually finish a chapter before I get to my stop. It’s great. But if I’m not that into the book, I will only read it on my commute – which means I really only read about one chapter a day. So the other day I get off the bus and am crossing the street when a man comes up to me and says, “So when are you going to finish that book? I’ve seen you reading it for a few weeks now.” What!?! I was caught so off guard that I didn’t know how to respond.

a) I’ve never seen this man before in my life. Clearly, he has seen me on the bus enough times to know that I’ve been reading the same book for a month.
b) Ew, are you hitting on me? If so, telling me I’m a slow reader is not the best conversation starter.
c) When am I going to finish that book? I’ll finish the book when I’m ready to finish the book!

I can’t remember exactly, but I’m sure I stuttered out something like, “Uh, uh, probably in a few weeks,” and then turned and walked the opposite direction. I haven’t seen him since.