Thinking this morning of the girl on Mineral Spring Avenue with her jeans dragging and wet. Six o’clock in the morning on a Sunday in the summer.

(deep sigh)

Now that I think of it, she reminds me of a mermaid. Sad. Tsk.

(broken voice)

(there are a few seconds of silence here and there)

:24 secs | 7:32 am

03.04.2015

the background

 

i recorded the voice memo in 2015, but the memory is from 2006, and i know this because i was headed to a sporting event in newport.

as we drove barely a mile from where we lived, we saw a young woman walking slowly, with her head down. i might have missed her any other day, but it was six a.m. on a sunday morning in summer. and she walked very slowly. and wore bell bottoms that were wet up to the knee. she was barefoot.

we passed her, and i looked back at her. my husband asked, “you want to turn around?” i nodded.

i had never done anything like that before, but something about her pulled at me. i couldn’t see her after we turned around and had to search for her. she was sitting on the front steps of a building. her face was beautiful. she said she was okay and didn’t need help. i have never forgotten her. the memory still breaks my heart.

something akin to this happened when i was about 14 years old, and i have never forgotten her either. there is something beautiful and touching about people who are in need and don’t hide it. perhaps they can’t. why do i?