I saw a girl crying on the side of the road tonight as I was walking home from the grocery store. Fall has arrived so the air was rather cold and it had rained only hours before yet she sat, or rather hunched, against a concrete wall, cell phone in one hand, lit cigarette in the other. She pulled at her smoke as though the thought of the slow death they bring was a comfort. I didn't linger. I don't particularly enjoy joining in on other people's pain, but like most moments such as these I can't help but wonder what the story behind it was.
The easiest answer would be a fight with a lover. Or a sudden break-up. She was young and this is a common pitfall of youth. Perhaps a discovery,or admittance, of infidelity, a frequent occurrence to be sure.
Or it could have been something more tragic. Perhaps the sudden, or expected yet still painful death of a loved one. Mother, Father, Grandparent, Brother, Sister, pet goldfish. Maybe her favorite band broke up today. It is impossible to guess what can move another person to tears while sitting on cold, wet concrete next to a takoyaki stand, but there she was. But the next thought that crossed my mind was will she still be "here" tomorrow. My train was delayed the other day because of an "accident". Before absolutely any train in this city arrives a kindly automated voice warns passengers just how dangerous it is to be close to the tracks. So, "accident" has become code for something much more intentional.
I'm sure that whatever left her in tears on the side of the road was nothing more than a small bump in the road that hit her at a particularly fragile moment, yet who can tell the proverbial "last straw" from a moment's glance in passing?
These are the things I think about while drinking.
