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The Kid Who Missed the Bus · Infinite Threads with Bob Barnett

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: welcome back to Infinite Threads.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Bob.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday we met Maya.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: She was behind the counter at the coffee shop,
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: trying to hold herself together while worrying about her mother in the hospital.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then Eli came through the door.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Young guy, backpack, out of breath.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: He had missed the bus that was supposed to get him to his first serious job interview.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maya helped him make the phone call.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Lewis gave him a ride.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we left him.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we're going to go with Eli.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: By the time he got out of Mr. Lewis' car, he had 14 minutes before the rescheduled interview.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Plenty of time, right?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: That is,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: unless you're a 19-year-old and convinced that your entire future is waiting
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: behind one particular office door.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Then 14 minutes feels like 14 seconds.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Eli stood outside the building and checked his reflection in the glass.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: His hair had not improved during the ride.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: His shirt was wrinkled.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: He had a coffee stain near the bottom that he hoped nobody would notice.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Lewis rolled down the window.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Stop staring at yourself and go inside.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Eli looked back.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: I look terrible.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: You look nervous.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a difference.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then Mr. Lewis repeated what he had told him in the car.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Look them in the eye.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them what you can do.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Eli nodded.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Lewis then drove away.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Neither of them knew whether they would ever see one another again.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Inside, Eli checked in at the front desk.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The woman there asked him to sit, so he sat.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then he waited and waited.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is one of the strange things about job interviews.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: You spend hours preparing for someone to ask Why you would be a good employee.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then you spend 15 minutes sitting in a chair trying not to look like someone
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: who desperately needs employment.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Eli picked up a magazine.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't read it.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: He put it back down.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: A man came out of an office and called his name.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The interview itself wasn't dramatic.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: There were no movie speeches.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody said, kid, you got something.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's not all off in real life, is it?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Mostly there were normal questions.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you want to work here?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: What experience do you have?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: How do you handle problems?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Eli answered these questions as honestly as he could.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then the interviewer looked at his application.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: You were supposed to be here earlier.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Eli felt his stomach drop.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: He explained the bus, the wrong stop, the coffee shop, the phone call.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: He expected that the man was going to look annoyed.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, what he got, the man said, but you called.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you still came.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: The man nodded.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: That matters.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Eli remembered Mr. Lewis.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Looked him in the eye.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he did.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: I really want the job.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: The man smiled slightly.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I gathered that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Twenty minutes later, Eli walked back outside.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: He had no idea how it had gone.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not a clue.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Interviews are cruel that way.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody asks you 20 questions,
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: shakes your hand,
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: and then sends you back into the world to analyze every word that you had said.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Eli sat on a low wall outside the building.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: He pulled out his phone.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: There was a message from his sister, Lena.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: How did it go?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: He typed.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: No clue.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Might have completely blown it.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Three dots appeared.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Then disappeared.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then appeared again.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Finally.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: These words.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: You showed up.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's not blowing it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Eli smiled.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: That sounded suspiciously like Mr. Lewis.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe everybody over 30 was working from the same manual.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: He started to type something back.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Then he stopped.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Something else had caught his attention.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: A woman was standing near the entrance to the building, arguing quietly on her phone.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Not, not, not angry exactly, but worried.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: He tried not to listen.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Then he heard, I know I'm trying.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: She ended the call and stood there for a moment staring at the screen.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Eli knew that look.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: The look of somebody who had just been given a problem and no obvious way to solve it.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Normally, normally he would have just walked past.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: He had his own problems.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: He still needed to figure out how to get home.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the whole morning had been people not walking past him.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maya had stopped.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Lewis
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Eli asked, Are you okay?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: The woman looked up.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: For a second, she seemed surprised that someone had spoken to her.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then she gave, well, she gave the automatic answer.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm fine.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Eli nodded.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: He knew that answer too.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: He started to leave.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then she said, actually, do you know if there's a pharmacy around here?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: He pulled out his phone and told her, there's one about a half mile away.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: She looked toward the street.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: My car's in the shop.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Eli laughed.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So apparently transportation is going great for everybody today.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: That made her smile.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Her name was Denise.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Her father had been discharged from the hospital that morning.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: She needed to pick up one of his prescriptions before taking him home.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the person who was supposed to meet her had been delayed.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Half a mile wasn't far unless you were carrying two bags And trying to manage everything else.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Eli looked at the map again.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm heading that direction anyway.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: That wasn't entirely true.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: He had no idea what direction that he was heading.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it did sound helpful.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: They started walking.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the conversation It was just ordinary, everyday conversation.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Denise asked about the backpack.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Eli told her about the interview.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: She asked how it went.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: No clue.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: That usually means it went better than you think, she said.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: He told her about missing the bus.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then about Maya.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then about Mr. Lewis.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Denise laughed.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: So your terrible morning turned into meeting half the city.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much, he said.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: When they reached the pharmacy, Denise thanked him.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Eli just shrugged.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was on my way.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Again, not entirely true.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes a small lie It's really just a polite way of saying, I didn't mind helping you.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: They said goodbye, and Eli headed toward another bus stop.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And as far as he knew, Denise disappeared from the story.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: But as we're learning through all these stories, she really didn't, did she?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: That afternoon, Denise sat beside her father in his living room.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: His name was Frank.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was 81 and irritated that everyone was treating him like he might break.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: He had been in the hospital for two nights after a fall.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing was broken.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: He was bruised, sore, and deeply offended by the idea that he should take it easy.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Denise set the pharmacy bag on the table.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need anything else?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: I need everyone to stop asking if I need anything.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: She said, that's not happening.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Frank sighed.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Denise sat down.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: For the first time all day long, the room was quiet.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then Frank asked, You alright?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: It caught her off guard.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: She had spent the morning worrying about him.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody had asked about her.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm fine.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Frank looked at her.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: The same answer she had given Eli.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: This time, she laughed.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, that's not right.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm tired.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Frank nodded.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: They sat there.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Then Denise started telling him about the young man who walked with her to the pharmacy.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: The job interview.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: The missed bus.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: The older man who gave him a ride.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Frank smiled.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: People still do that?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, she said.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: He looked out the window.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: The conversation then moved on.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: But later that afternoon, after Denise had gone home, Frank picked up his phone.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: He stared at it for a good while.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: There was someone that he had been thinking about calling.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: His younger brother, Sam.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: They've not spoken in months.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing dramatic had happened.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: That might have been the problem.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: There had been, you know, a disagreement.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then pride got in the way.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Then enough time passed that calling began to feel awkward.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think we all know the feeling.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Frank had almost called several times.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Today, for some reason, the story Denise told him stayed in his head.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: People helping people that they barely knew.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: A young man missing a bus, an older stranger giving him a ride.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: It made Frank think about how ridiculous it was that two brothers
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: who had known each other for 70 years could go months without speaking
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: because neither one wanted to be the first.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: He opened Sam's contact, then closed it, opened it again, Finally, he pressed call.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Across town,
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sam was sitting alone at the kitchen table,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: and he was having one of the worst afternoons he had experienced in
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: a very long time.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Frank had no idea.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't calling because he sensed something.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: He was calling because his daughter had told him a story about a kid who missed a bus.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's how strange this day had become.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Eli thought his part was about getting to an interview.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't know that simply walking beside Denise for half
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: a mile would eventually put a phone in Frank's hand.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maya didn't know that.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Lewis didn't know.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mark certainly didn't know.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Each person saw only their little piece, but the thread kept moving.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, this happens all the time.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And here's something else that Eli didn't know yet.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: At 4.23 that afternoon, his phone would ring.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: The company wanted him back the next morning.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Not another interview.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: His first day.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: He got the job.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: He'd probably tell people later that he got it because he answered the questions well.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe, I'm sure that maybe that was part of it.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if the old man's grocery bag had not split at the intersection that morning,
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Mark might have carried his irritation into the coffee shop.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: If Maya's morning had gone just a little differently, she might not have stopped to help Eli.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: If Mr. Lewis had stayed home, Eli might never have reached the interview at all.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: None of that guarantees anything.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's not how life works.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes a life changes because several ordinary people,
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: none of whom know the whole story, each make one small choice.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And tomorrow, we're going to follow the phone call.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Frank and Sam, two brothers who had let silence grow between them.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: One of them finally reached out at exactly the right time.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: He had no idea how right.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, thank you for listening to me and coming to listen to Infinite Threads.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it so much.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you're seeing how we all Connect every little thing we do.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't ever know it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: You saying hi to that person.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: You telling somebody a good joke.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: You acknowledging somebody and their problems.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: You helping somebody pick up those oranges in the street.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes on.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It goes on and on.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love you guys very, very, very much.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what I need you to do.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Go out there and pass that on, okay?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Later, Gators.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye.
• 18:02
  [music]