“Excuse me, could you watch my computer for me?”

“Sure thing.”

I watched as she walked from her window-side seat to the restroom on the other side of the coffee shop and glanced at her laptop sitting on the small table.

We had not spoken prior to this exchange. Apparently by sitting alone in an armchair with my philosophy book I was deemed trustworthy.

We had not spoken prior, but I wondered that maybe we would if I took the laptop and ran from the store only to return it a minute later, as she was returning, breathing hard as if I had just chased a would-be thief and rescued her computer.

It’s interesting: I have been in the same boat – not trusting anyone new who may walk in to the store, but trusting my possessions to the perfect stranger who has been sitting inside since I arrived. It’s curious: I wonder what I gives us this sense of instinctive fear and simultaneous trust.