I was in the liquor store this morning waiting in line to check out my regular wine purchase while in front of me at the checkout was a man who was a bit twitchy. I wasn’t sure what his problem was, but my guess was that it was drug-related.

He couldn’t stand still and moved about furtively as though he was expecting someone to stop him from being there. As he fidgeted about in front of me I noticed that one of his shoe laces was undone and trailing on the floor, and I wanted to fix it for him.

In my imagination, I would ask him if it was ok for me to tie his shoelace and he would stay still long enough for me to do that. Then he would ask me why I did that and I would say something profound like, “Well, we are neighbours, and neighbours look out for each other,” and he would smile and thank me.

But, in fact I didn’t do anything about his shoelace and I didn’t speak to him. Instead, I was focussed on his purchase. It was a four-litre box of vodka water. Vodka water! I didn’t know there was such a thing, and I momentarily wondered if I should exchange my box of Pinot Grigio for a box of vodka water.

Then the twitchy man left with his purchase and I wondered if his vodka water would last as long as my wine would last me.

Then, as I walked home, it occurred to me that my wine cost about the same as his vodka water but it had twice the alcohol content. If I see him again should I point this out to him, or let it go and assume he is deliberately reducing his intake? Or, should I forget we ever crossed paths and walk on by? Or, if I’m feeling up to it, I could just ask him if I could tie his shoelace.