435 In the Elevator

Sometimes the awkwardness in the elevator where strangers are stuffed in a little box in a silence. People tend to look at the floor light above, or look down their foot. But I happened to see two perfect ways to break the ice in the elevator.

First, the child. There was a man with his little daughter. Then a woman came carrying a stroller with her baby son. The instance the girl saw the boy she reached her hand to gently stroke the baby's head (apparently the two kids had not met before.) The dad and the mom, almost all the people there including me got pleasant at the sight and started to smile (or at least pretended to do.)

Second, the joke. I was surrounded by a group of people who seemed to just have finished their happy dinner with wine, getting drunk moderately. One of them was talking about how the night view from the restaurant was splendid and the sight of famous high-rise tower nailed him. The other man made a joke on one of the words the first man had said on the tower. All the fellows were cheery and ready to laugh at any joke (and they did so) because of the slight intoxication. The atmosphere was so happy that I almost joined their laughing and tried to tell them one or two jokes myself. 

If there's one thing that equals child and joke (with a little help of alcohol) in breaking the silence in the elevator, it would be an animal. But I just don't see them in the elevator so often.