The crying Rose
Sometime in the year 2020.....
After about a 10 minutes wait that seemed like 3ominutes , I was able to secure an old tricycle that was going my way. There was already two passengers in it, a male and a female. The man had to briefly step down from the tricycle so that I could sit near to the woman at the other end, then he hopped in again. Due to religious inclinations in the northern part of the country, It was prohibited for a male to sit between two female passengers in a public transport, likewise a female. So I was at the middle of my two passengers.
A short while after the tricycle began to move, the man got to his destination and I was left with the other female passenger. I shifted to the farther end of the seat so that I could be comfortable, leaving a considerable space between us.
Few minutes later, I heard a sniffing sound from the other woman. Strangely enough, I hadn't looked at her since the beginning of the trip. Something on her face caught attention that I immediately turned to look at her again. That was when I saw the streams of tears .I observed her closely for a while and saw that she was a very beautiful woman . She was Light in complexion and about five years older than I am.
She was now aware that I was staring at her and in the resulting embarrassment, she brought out a handkerchief in a desperate effort to wipe her tears . But as soon as the hanky touched her face, she burst into an agonizing sob that caused her body to convulse painfully.
My throat immediately went dry and I turned to look at the other side of the road. Different thoughts kept racing through my mind and I felt a wetness on my forehead. " ... Perhaps it was a heartbreak.... Maybe she had just been told about the death of a friend or sibling...", I kept thinking about all the possible reasons for such sadness.
Moments later, I turned to look at her once more and saw that she had snapped out of it, but her eyes were still filled with alot of grief. Suddenly, I didn't care anymore about the kind of hole she had found herself ,I only wanted to hold her hands and tell her everything would be alright.
But words failed me. I continued to stare like a dummy , even though I was dying to say one or two soothing words to her. Each time I looked at her and tried to say something, it would seem as if my tongue was firmly tied to my lower lip anf my heart kept pounding against my ribs.
The harsh tone of the driver's voice abruptly brought me back to reality. He repeated once more that we have arrived at my destination. I muttered an apology and slowly got out of the tricycle. The driver took off immediately before I could have one last look at the crying lady. As I watched the tricycle disappear farther along the winding road, I instinctively knew that I would never set my eyes on the crying lady again.
After taking a shower, I settled down on my bed and began to review what has transpired earlier and I came to the inevitable conclusion that I had behaved stupidly. Reaching out and interacting with someone in such a depressive mood could be the kindest thing you could ever do. Words of encouragement and comfort could go a long way in improving the person's mood and lighten the burdened heart.
Countless times I have met alot of people in commercial transport and we had talked and laughed as if we had been friends for years. Sometimes I would even be the one to initiate a conversation. In some few cases, we might even get to talk or see each other again after exchanging numbers and that would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Honestly I can't just understand what came over me on that day that I couldn't move closer, hold her and comfort her. It was totally unlike me. The face of the crying woman haunted me for days that Mom had to ask me wether everything was ok.
Since then, I made a promise to myself never to walk away or hesitate to talk whenever I see someone crying in public, wether on the roadside or in any other places. I wouldn't care about their gender niether would I care about the age. .
What about you, Have you ever seen some one crying in a public transport before?
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I would have done the same thing as you did in that situation. I see it as intrusive and I feel like I am bothering the person if I go to ask them what's wrong, at least that's what I will feel if I was the person crying and a stranger tries to ask what's wrong