Democrat

As I was returning to my third-floor library study room from a water bottle-filling and M&M-fetching basement run, I paused briefly to hold the door open for a janitor pushing a trashcan behind me.

“Aww, that’s so nice! You didn’t have to wait and get the door for me!” he enthused. “That was so compassionate! You must be a Democrat!” I laughed and, rather embarrassed by his effusiveness, admitted, “Yes, I am a Democrat.”

“’Cause you know a Republican wouldn’a did!” he laughed. “You have a nice afternoon!”

I  wasn’t at all sure that a “Republican wouldn’a did,” nor that my holding the door open was a mark either of moral superiority or of liberal political leanings, but I still giggled the whole way upstairs.