bus stop stories

she was sitting in front of the stop for the #9, as i walked by, a mountain of a woman in a coat of many colors, with a sad and thoughtful look on her face. i saw the bus come but she didn't get on it...
a long while later, i wandered back down the street.
she was still there. in the faintest voice, she told me the saddest thing i've heard in a long long while...i don't care how you look at it. the facts and details are irrelevent. when you are where you are, you have the right to have this kind of public conversation. where you are is a place that i can't begin to fathom. who has the right to judge you? you were given what you said you needed, but i still have my doubts...you need more than the kindness of strangers, when you are falling through the widest cracks of thin safety nets.