Sadness

Sadness

After waiting for a few minutes a girl near us pointed out two
silhouettes on the horizon that soon became three. Everyone was silent
and watched these three approach the bus which took perhaps fifteen
minutes. The bus became cold during the long wait. When they arrived it
was clear that the man and the woman had decided to leave their small
village but the woman's mother, who had trailed behind them the entire
way and continued to cry out and sing, was overwhelmed. We all watched
placidly, but not as placidly as the man did when looking at his
stepmother, while the couple arranged their luggage on the top of the
bus and then came inside to find their place. Just as we were about to
leave the man jumped off the bus and hugged the old woman tightly. He
then jumped back on the bus and the driver pulled away with the door
open and the man waving. When we arrived in Ilhara the bus dropped us
at the top of a long hill that ran down to the center of the village.
On our way down the hill the same girl who had first seen the couple
caught sight of a chicken whose neck was wedged in a swinging door. The
girl laughed out loud and said, Just like the old woman! A man near us
smiled kindly and released the chicken from its bind.