Small Encounter
when no one spoke I asked again
is this a stop for the 42 bus
bumping umbrellas with two women
who were trying to share
a tiny black and pink spotted fold-up
that hadn’t expanded all the way –
poor thing with its broken rib –
and failing. Each woman stood half in the rain.
In disgust they looked at me
one hundred percent dry
under my enormous tent of plain blue umbrella.
I motioned them in.
We stood in a triangle facing the shaft
our backs to the rain
Yes
said the shorter woman
Thank you
said the older woman
Thank you
I said.
We listened
to the spatter of raindrops
on our shelter.
We waited
together
until the bus came.
6/13/19
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
I enjoyed this little scene of forced camaraderie.
I like to think that if we break the ice, maybe we can find a little common ground. Doesn’t have to be much to keep the world just that bit more pleasant to live in. I am trying to be a person more aware of things going on around me and that maybe a small gesture from me can help.
A little kindness… (k)
it really does go a long way.
Lovely. 🙂 Can just see it all.
Thank you. Though I imagined this exact scene I commuted to Philadelphia for many years in all kinds of weather and I have so many memories and images from those times, with one of them being, how in bad weather, people tried to help each other. And of course the backdrop being a rainy chilly gray day in the city, but I never felt it depressing to look at because the raingear people have is so colorful and lively as they move along the street.