Two days later, she is waiting for a taxi so she can go pick up her car at the station.

As she waits next to her apartment complex, she meets a funny man who calls himself "Noodle."

She seated herself outside the office door as she waited for the cab she had called moments earlier. Time to pick up her car downtown. She ran her thumb over her cell phone, making a mental note to call Katherine to set a time to discuss her case. She imagined she'd hear from Cyclops' lawyer any day now.

She'd forgotten to view the blogs Katherine had told her about, but planned on doing so as soon as she caught a free moment.

The October sun was just peaking over the trees and she could hear the soft murmurings of cars accelerating someplace far away from where she sat. A new chill was in the air though she found a little warmth from the sunshine.

"Mind if I join you?" she heard a voice ask.

She turned to her left to see a man approaching her. He wore tight jeans that looked nearly black and a concert t-shirt. He looked, as her mom would say, "a bit rough around the edges" with an unruly beard and an earring in both ears. He had a winter sock hat that stopped just above his eyebrows. He was smiling as if some subtle frostiness had just melted from his tight frame.

"Sure," she responded. He looked very pleasant.

"Whatcha doing catching a taxi on a Monday work day?" he asked.

"My car was impounded Saturday," she replied. As she said this, she realized she had just become "that person" who gets arrested. She sighed.

"Damn girl, what'd you do? You don't look like the crack ho type nor do you look like a menace to society. You go out Saturday night and wreak some havoc on this dump of a town?" he asked with a joke in his eye.

"Something like that," she replied. "I threw some shit out onto the highway and got arrested for it. Some poor sap got his eye poked in the process. I'm about to be sued any day now. They booked me. I hung around about five hours and posted bail. I tell you, I'm too pretty to be in jail. Now I'm here with you. Who are you?"

"Name's Noodle," he said chuckling. "You don't strike me as a real threat in that designer outfit and perfect hair. I doubt you unloaded a dime bag during a high speed chase. You look too damn pure for that shit."

She shook her head. No one thought she was a threat, not even this Noodle character who she could tell was already patronizing her in his mind. Then again, he seemed almost genuine. She turned to him.

"Noodle? What kind of a name is that?" she asked, condescendingly.

At this, Noodle smiled more brightly and tapped his foot. His eyes seemed to sparkle, like he'd never had a bad day in his life. She wondered where that inner humor came from, the stuff that he was wearing over his body like a coat. He made it look so easy.

"Well sweetheart, if you can't tell, I'm your typical musician. What other kind of cat would call himself Noodle?" he said.

"I see," she replied. "No real job, just groupies, beer, and road trips?"

"Nah, that's not my style. I play drums for this local band and during the day, I sell appliances. Every once in awhile, I'll sit in on another gig to help some dudes out. I can hit the keyboards pretty well too. What's with the attitude this morning? You don't like musicians?" he asked.

At this, she reflected inwardly about all the musicians she had ever had the pleasure of knowing personally - all narcissist types with superior intelligence. Rather, that is what drew her to them. She smiled.

"I do like musicians; used to be one myself in one way or another. Just irritable over my charge and the fact that my boss is peeved that I'm coming in late today. It's not personal," she added.

As she said this, a taxi came barreling up the street and she stood up. She turned to look at Noodle who was fiddling with his belt buckle and sitting cross-legged on the stoop.

"You need a lift?" she asked him.

"Nope," he replied. "I don't have anywhere to go right now - just came over to meet you."

And with that, he abruptly jumped up, flashed his toothy smile in her direction, and bounded back toward a set of apartment buildings behind them. As he left he called over his shoulder, "Pretty sure I'll see you around here again."

And he disappeared around the corner.

She opened the door to the taxi and climbed in. At that moment, she leaned back and sighed. This was the season for holding hands and sharing cabs.