I was sitting in a crowded tram when the door whooshed open and two ticket inspectors stepped up. They swiped their magic ‘access all areas’ cards and stood in the doorway, talking.

At the next stop, a tall Asian youth (international student?) entered the tram and froze. The ticket inspectors glanced at him. I could see the wheels turning in his head.

“I have to buy a ticket,” he said slowly.

The inspectors moved to let him past. He stayed in his spot.

“I need to check if I have coins,” he said. He pulled out his wallet. After flicking through the compartments, he carefully put the wallet away.

“No coins,” one of the inspectors murmured.

“I don’t have any coins.”

The inspectors looked at each other and sighed. “Where are you going?”

“Just to Melbourne Uni. [pause] Is that okay?”

Surely they’ve been through this before,” I thought. “Those damned tram ticket machines only accept coins.”

“You’ve got a few options, mate,” one of the officials stated. “You can get off at the next stop…”

“I’ve got coins,” someone piped up. “I’ll change it for you… if you’ve got a five.” Ooh, some nice person was being helpful. Hey! (double take) That was me talking!

The student jerked his head towards me and looked through his wallet again. “I don’t have a five,” he said calmly. He focused back on the ticket inspectors. “Can I stay? Is that okay?”

“We’re not going to say it’s okay or not,” they said.

He appeared to be pondering this.

“Here, let me give you some coins.” I offered up a gold two dollar coin and a one dollar coin. “You can pay me back the next time I see you on a tram.”

He shrugged and shook his head.

The four of us waited in silence as the tram rumbled by three more stops. At last, we reached Melbourne University. The doors whooshed open and everyone, including the inspectors, stepped out.