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There She Sat

A man sees a woman alone at a bar staring blankly into her drink with a distant look. He wonders about her troubles and what might have caused her sadness. When he sits next to her, she looks at him with empty eyes that threaten to swallow him. Unable to find words, he offers a kind embrace, and she breaks down crying on his shoulder, finding brief solace in his company as a stranger.

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44 views1 page

There She Sat

A man sees a woman alone at a bar staring blankly into her drink with a distant look. He wonders about her troubles and what might have caused her sadness. When he sits next to her, she looks at him with empty eyes that threaten to swallow him. Unable to find words, he offers a kind embrace, and she breaks down crying on his shoulder, finding brief solace in his company as a stranger.

Uploaded by

pedro_alamancha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Peter Walsworth

There she sat. Alone at the bar. It wasn't an unusual occurrence, but there was something about
the way she sat there; not weeping or self-pitying, not sulking or sullen, not een angry. !ather, she
was staring with wi"e, acant eyes straight through the bottom of her glass an" the floor below. It
seeme" she was looking straight through to the #arth's molten center; an" yet something in her
"emeanor tol" me that she wasn't seeing anything at all.
As the noise an" moement of the bar swirle" aroun" her, she "i"n't notice or react to a single
thing, an" as I sat "own in a booth across the bar from her, I notice" there was a letter hel" loosely in
her han". $er "ark hair fell oer her shoul"ers, which looke" to be carrying the weight of the worl",
an" as she went to take a "rink from her glass, her acant ga%e passe" straight through me. After
another sip, her sa" eyes "rifte" back "own to the bar. I ha" no reason to care about her, but I foun"
myself thinking of how to comfort the woman across the bar.
&What coul" I say to her' An" what coul" I "o'( I aske" myself, looking at her. &What wor"s
might that letter hol" to put such a "istant look on her face' )ight there'e been a market crash in
which she'" lost her saings' Perhaps she'" lost her *ob that "ay an" been force" to empty out her "esk.
+oul" it be that a tragic acci"ent ha" taken a member of her family' A spiral of thoughts each "arker
than the last ran through my hea" as I peere" at that woman an" trie" to "iine her misfortune. ,inally
it "awne" on me that instea" of helping her; by staring at her blankly, I was really only making things
worse. I change" my train of thought. I aske" myself again what I might say to her; how I coul" help
her. +lich-" phrases ran through my hea", &Are you alright'( an" &.o you nee" some help'( I trie" to
think of something better, an" finally "eci"e" on a passable greeting that felt neither oeruse" nor
painfully contrie". With one last sip from my glass of courage, I resole" to help her in what manner
I coul", an" so went to sit ne/t to her at the bar.
With her loneliness "isturbe", she turne" to face me, newcomer that I was, with those
unrecogni%ing eyes. As I sat besi"e her then, all the wor"s that I ha" thought to use eaporate" into the
air. 0ike a fool I sat there looking back into her eyes. Those eyes that seeme" to grow larger with
eery moment. They latche" onto my own eyes, boring into me. Threatening at last to swallow me
whole, leaing no trace of my e/istence. 1ot a single wor" left to me, I struggle" to stay afloat lest I
shoul" "rown in the "eep pools that were her eyes. With my ocabulary lost, I "i" the only thing I
coul" "o; I looke" back into her eyes an" opene" my arms in an offering of human kin"ness. An" it
was enough.
2he stare" at me for a moment, unsure of this stranger with his arms outstretche", but her nee"
for human kin"ness soon oerwhelme" her an" she collapse" into my embrace. The tears that she ha"
fiercely fought foun" their way out then an" she wept openly on my shoul"er. We staye" that way for a
long while. Two strangers. In a bar. 3ne weathere" "own by life's relentless storm, the other an
anchor an" brief solace in the mi"st of the turmoil. #entually her tears stoppe". 2he left shortly
thereafter. 2he neer tol" me her name...
(1 Sentence Summary)
A man fin"s himself intrigue" by the lonely woman at the bar.
[Title]
The Woman at the 4ar

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