A Perfect Gentleman

An experimental flash prose piece I wrote in graduate school, based on my personal experience.

Robert parked his car ten feet away from the entrance to the library. As he walked up to the building, he resigned himself to a long day of intense research for his Sociology of Gender Roles class assignment.

He was reflecting on the stupidity of the topic he was assigned to write a paper on when a woman walked ahead of him to the library entrance and pulled open the “IN” door. The woman then held the door open and stood behind it wearing a cordial smile.

Robert froze in his path a few steps before the entrance.

“After you,” said the woman, who gestured toward the entrance with her left hand as she held the door handle with her right.

 “Naw, that’s okay.  You go on in,” Robert responded. He stood before the entrance, stiff with apprehension.

 The woman shrugged her shoulders and said “Okay.” She walked through the doorway with Robert following her as the door closed behind them.

Walking to the computerized indexes, Robert thought, “Hey, I’m not a sexist, but a woman opening a door for a guy...it just isn’t right...or it doesn’t feel right, anyway...not to me.”

He sat down at the terminal and typed in the subject of his research paper for the key word reference search: “CHIVALRY.”