I recline in one of the big comfy chairs in the corner at the local Internet café, reading a novel, immersed in conflict, challenge, adventure. She curls up in the other chair, across from mine, her feet tucked under her legs, and stares out the window. The sight pulls me from my book.
Quiet, pretty, young, she rarely smiles, even when serving customers their coffee and muffins. Each morning, I make it a point to grin long and broad, with “please” and “thanks.” But in return I rarely receive more than a rote, “Café Americano, two sixty-five.”
Then, at about 10 o’clock, she takes a break, to sit and stare. The sun peeks around the edge of a cloud overhead, now gleaming through her tender blue eyes and warming her luxurious, dark hair. Her face softens, and my heart melts, and I wonder what she thinks about.
At that moment, she raises her hand to her chin, and the sleeve of her black uniform slides down enough to reveal pieces of blue and red scribbled into her arm.
“What’s your tattoo?” I ask.
I myself have never mustered the will and courage to subject myself to the tattooist’s needle.
A frown etches its way across her face. “Nothing,” she mutters, her eyes still transfixed on the outside scene.
I shrug my eyebrows, as if to shrug off the hurt I feel. I return to the joyful fantasy of my book– Or rather, I am just about to return to it, when the girl silently unbuttons her sleeve, rolls it up, holds out her wrist, revealing a half a butterfly, its intricate wings painted in dazzling blue. The half-butterfly sits on the stem of a rose blossom, deep green and red.
“Wow,” I say. “That’s really beautiful.” Then, “Why only half a butterfly?”
“The other half– flew away,” she says, returns to her window view, her frown now more pronounced than ever.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“Not your fault,” she mumbles.
I try pull my eyes from hers. And fail.
I imagine her smiling, laughing, bonding with friends, close to her loved ones. Her desolate sadness stabs through my gut.
I could argue with her. True, it’s not my fault that her best friend died, or moved away, or whatever happened. But I can still feel sorry. I’m allowed to feel sorry, not just with pity, but out of human kindness. In some societies, the community would rally around, sit, mourn with her. How can I sit here next to her and feel nothing? Or worse, feel only discomfort and dread, wanting only to escape from her presence, back into the safety of my novel.
But arguing with would accomplish nothing.
She sees me staring, I’m sure. If I were she, if our positions were reversed, I’d notice her staring. I’d wonder what kind of kook she was. I’d worry what kind of mess I’d gotten myself into.
“I hope,” I squeak– I swallow. “I hope that you can hang out with some friends after your shift, at least.”
She grunts.
“I wish there were something I could do,” I admit.
She glares at me. “Well, there isn’t. Haley was the only real friend I had. And now she’s gone. She was the only one who knew how to love everyone as they were. There will never be another person like her, ever. So don’t even try!”
She runs to the ladies room, and I can feel numerous pairs of eyes throwing glances in our direction.
I gulp down the rest of my now-tepid coffee, place the cup and saucer in the dish-return. Carrying my book, I stroll toward the exit, already having decided to return tomorrow morning to see how she’s getting along.
Excellent web site. Plenty of helpful information here. I’m sending it to some buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks to your sweat!
Magnificent site. Lots of helpful info here. I am sending it to some friends ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks in your sweat!
Simply desire to say your article is as astonishing. The clarity in your post is simply nice and i could assume you’re an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission allow me to grab your RSS feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please continue the enjoyable work.
Magnificent web site. Lots of helpful info here. I am sending it to a few pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thanks for your effort!
There is definately a great deal to find out about this subject. I like all the points you have made.
Appreciating the hard work you put into your site and in depth information you present. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed information. Excellent read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our entire community will be thankful to you.
Проблемы с зубами? ортодонтия лечение кариеса и каналов, восстановление формы и цвета зуба, замена старых пломб. Индивидуальный подход, современные технологии, стерильность. Запишитесь на консультацию и получите план лечения.
Проблемы с зубами? https://www.stomatologiya-v-bare.com лечение кариеса и каналов, восстановление формы и цвета зуба, замена старых пломб. Индивидуальный подход, современные технологии, стерильность. Запишитесь на консультацию и получите план лечения.
If you wish for to grow your familiarity only keep visiting this website and be updated with the most recent information posted here.
After exploring a handful of the blog articles on your site, I honestly appreciate your technique of writing a blog. I book-marked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back in the near future. Take a look at my website as well and let me know what you think.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. thanks a lot
For latest news you have to visit the web and on internet I found this web site as a finest web page for most recent updates.
I appreciate how you focused on real-world applications rather than just theory. This makes the content so much more valuable in practice.
Thanks for finally writing about > %blog_title% < Loved it!
Howdy! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird when browsing from my iphone4. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem. If you have any recommendations, please share. Cheers!
Hey there I am so grateful I found your website, I really found you by mistake, while I was looking on Google for something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say thanks a lot for a fantastic post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the fantastic work.
I think what you composed was actually very reasonable. However, think about this, what if you typed a catchier title? I mean, I don’t want to tell you how to run your blog, however what if you added a headline that makes people want more? I mean %BLOG_TITLE% is kinda boring. You ought to look at Yahoo’s home page and see how they create article titles to get viewers interested. You might add a video or a related pic or two to grab people excited about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it might make your posts a little livelier.
Hello it’s me, I am also visiting this web site daily, this website is genuinely nice and the viewers are in fact sharing pleasant thoughts.
Magnificent site. Lots of helpful info here. I am sending it to several pals ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you in your effort!
Hi are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you need any coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!