He was late again; rushing around the apartment in a mad frenzy to grab what he needed and made it to work on time. The coat was thrown on, the brightly colored backpack tossed over one shoulder, his cell phone shoved into the coat pocket and one brand new laptop banging angrily against his leg as he sped towards the elevator. To his great surprise, the elevator was open and waiting, the big metal doors held invitingly clear by a frail old woman with a gentle, wrinkled smile.

"Good morning, Adrian." She nodded to him as he stepped into the elevator and slumped against the wall. "I'll lock your door for you when I come back up."

"Oh, man," Adrian muttered. "Mrs. Clemens, you're a saint. And absolute saint!"

His friendly old neighbor smiled. "Oh, I have a few years left in me, Addy. On to work, now." She gave him a fond maternal pat just as the door slid open and Adrian gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"What a woman," he grinned to her, and then dashed towards the lobby door. He hit the glass with his palm, pushing out into the humid central Texas air, and almost immediately flagged a taxi. "Wow," he muttered to himself. "What luck. I've got a bad feeling about this…" Adrian wasn't exactly a lucky person.

"Where to? The cabby asked, and Adrian rattled off the directions to his office building downtown by heart while he struggled to properly tie his tie. The minutes flew by until he finally succeeded in harnessing the confounded piece of cloth around his neck, just as the yellow cab pulled up by his destination.

"Eight thirty-six." His driver announced, and Adrian shoved a hand into his coat to fetch his wallet and pay so he could hustle his delinquent programmer butt up to the seventh floor, sixteenth cubicle from the left.

No wallet.

"Oh, no." he muttered out loud. He checked his other coat pocket and began fishing around frantically in his backpack. "Oh, no," he said again, more heartfelt this time.

"Sir? The cabby asked.

"Listen," Adrian began desperately, "I've left my wallet at home. I've got a friend in the building who'll loan me some money, though, I can get you your payment and a tip and be right back out."

"Sir!" The taxi driver began hotly, "what do you take me for? I hear that same line three times a day! I demand payment!"

"But I honestly don't have any money on me!" Adrian cried. "I'll swear on anything you want me to, I'll be right back. I'll pay you twenty bucks extra! I'll even leave my backpack in the cab!"

"You must be some kind of fool to think I'd cut you a break," the cabby retorted. "I've cut people breaks before – even held purses and handbags as a guaranteed return, and now I've got a nice collection of ladies tote bags I'd love to get rid of! I need some sort of payment and I need it now, I've got other customers out there to attend to."

"Excuse me." A kindly old voice cut in the conversation, and Adrian's head snapped up in surprise to see Mrs. Clemens standing outside his window, tapping gently on the glass. Another taxi sped away into the street from just behind where his cab sat. "I believe you forgot your wallet, Addy." He quickly rolled down the window and she handed him a worn leather wallet. Adrian quickly pulled a ten and handed it to his driver.

"Keep the tip," he said, and quickly vacated the cab. Before it could pull away from the curb, however, he ushered Mrs. Clemens into the back and handed the cabby another ten. "Take her back to where you picked me up." Then he gave a quick kiss to the old woman's forehead and strode into his office building, laptop, wallet, backpack and all. Suddenly, his boss – and the loss of his job – didn't seem like such a big threat.