The Most Romantic Robots

There is no basis in nature for rush hour traffic. I can't imagine water buffalo standing around slowly inching forward while they learn Italian on tape. I stare out at all the cars in neat little rows and try to see the people inside the cars, feel their humanity. But quickly they all become hoards of robots. Square villains in my desperate quest to get home. Usually I am numb by the time I get the 101 merge off the 5. A couple days ago I saw something so romantic on that merge, it briefly took me out of my coma.

A red Honda pulled out from behind and white Toyota truck and into the right lane, then the Honda hovered next to the truck for a couple seconds. They gently drifted towards each other and a man's arm came out the passenger side of the truck just as a woman's arm came out the driver side of the sedan. They clasped fingers for a few moments until the flow of traffic pushed him forward and her behind. For that brief moment, we robots had a heart.