Story 11. Written by Jim Waitlord

It was a cold November evening and the glare hanging over the suburban Penny Market parking lot was disconcerting. The cracked blacktop gave off a sharp chill that penetrated Tom’s bare feet. What filled his mind, instead of mapping the great forests of the most sophisticated mathematics, was an elementary problem; he was fifty cents too short to purchase a simple bread roll. The jangling coins in his pocket failed to soothe his frustration, hollow consolation in his plight.

His eyes drifted toward a trash bin nearby. Among the trash a glimmering catch. A bottle that might bridge the gap. But just past the bin were two young women. Kinga, her faded denim jacket hanging on her shoulders, and Laura, her shiny pink sneakers shrieking against the gray, were chatting and laughing, their voices effervescent. The sound of their laughter felt foreign against the raw, heavy-breathed lot, and yet somehow it knitted a strange warmth into the scene.

Tom hesitated. He felt as if a red-hot iron chain gripped him with shame. The thought of digging through the garbage while the two girls looked on was too much. He had no girlfriend, and often daydreamed about companionship, but this moment had the potential to rob him of whatever dignity he had left. Even with those wits of his, he kept standing still, caught in the middle between his pride and his necessity.

He stood there for what seemed like forever in the shimmering, flickering darkness, lost in thoughts both high and heady of all the great theories in mathematics or of the simple, unvarnished shame of what he was now that words could be Edmonton in Canada, the dishes in Angelica's kitchen, and the broken hands of the people he'd once played with. Not even the toughest formulas could lift the burden that crushed him. Finally, with the girls walking away toward the bus stop, Tom made his move. He snatched the bottle, moving quickly and silently, his heart racing as if he’d just committed a crime. He cashed it out, purchased the roll and rushed home. A warm waft of bread did little to take the edge off the bitterness that remained. It made him question if his brains were worth anything in a world where even the most primitive aspects of living were a challenge.

Not long after that, life took a sharp turn for Kinga and Laura. Their family business cratered, their savings were depleted and they found themselves evicted from their house. At first, they held on to their pride, but hunger pushed them into a new and uncomfortable situation — rummaging through dumpsters looking for food. While the shame felt unbearable at first, survival made their discomfort seem negligible. They adapted to the harshness of their new home, unspoken rules taken from desperation.

One chilly afternoon, as Laura was pawing through a bin brimming with spoiled vegetables, a deep voice startled her. "What’ve you found, girl?"

She looked up to see a man hovering over her. Locally called Angry Billy, he was a rough-hewn man, his face burnt and scarred, his frame intimidating even in the cold. He had a reputation for being aggressive, but behind his tough-guy persona was a strange sense of fairness. Billy had his codes, he protected the vulnerable, he chased away others that infringed on his space. It’s not like Billy was a threat to Laura, so she didn’t do anything wrong. Instead, he guided her through the harsh realities of life on the streets, keeping her away from those who would do her harm.

The two quickly built an unlikely friendship. Billy’s learned, survivalist skills worked in tandem with Laura’s resourcefulness, and they caused each other to achieve a sort of balance in a combined struggle. Laura nursed an injured Billy after a fight, and their bond grew. Under his tough exterior, she found a fiercely loyal and loving heart, and the brutalities of their world became just a bit less harsh.

Meanwhile, Tom’s life transformed. That little moment in the parking lot, where he struggled to buy a bread roll, got me thinking. Using his know-how as a math major, he built an app to help mitigate food waste. The program helped predict which items were at risk of selling out in stores, as well as discounts to prevent them from going unsold. The app went on to become a huge success, making Tom a millionaire almost overnight. The memory of his panic at the Penny Market became a weird, almost funny footnote in his otherwise successful life. He wrote and spoke publicly about how seed moments and small encounters can blossom into transformative ideas.

One rainy day many years later, Tom was at a charity function to benefit the homeless. In the masses of the sea of people, he found Laura and Billy. Time had taken its toll on them both, but together they presented a quiet dignity. Tom and Laura exchanged glances, and recognition passed between them. They had a moment where it looked like they might, but when they started talking, it was tempered and polite, neither pushing too deep into their shared past.

Immense confusion settled on Tom while they spoke. “He offered, but it was clear Laura and Billy had woven a life together and defined it in resilience and support. Their roads had been different, but somehow they both survived in their own way, he understood.

At the end of the event, Tom picked up a sense of melancholy. He mused on how life doesn’t always align with the logical. Logically, he knew his brilliance had earned him a good life and prosperous career, yet, in this place, rational thought meant absolutely nothing. Laura had reflected on their brief interaction, noting that though life with Billy had been far from perfect, it had at least been cemented in stability and struggle.

The bread roll that had started it all was still a powerful symbol — a reminder of how small, seemingly inconsequential moments can spread outward, to transform lives in surprising ways. Their intertwined lives, however, would live on as a local legend, a reminder of life's unpredictability and the inherent resilience of the human spirit. Their paths took them away from their hometown the same summer of that one night, the same fateful evening, but their lives would never be the same and they continued to make their mark on the world and rub elbows with one another's families in the years that followed.

The Bread Roll