Dunkin' Donuts

Touching.
(The contributor writes: This is a true story; it took place in Sheepshead Bay, a section of downtown Brooklyn, this winter.)

In Dunkin’ Donuts this morning,
an old lady wearing a tattered watch cap
started speaking to no one in particular.
“I can’t sleep at night.
I have pains in my chest all the time.
My leg hurts and my children do not love me.”
People waiting in line
hid in their cellphones, looked away
or stared straight ahead.
“I don’t know what to do.
I don’t know where to turn.
My husband died two years ago on the 27th.”
Everyone pretended she wasn’t there.
The girls behind the counter took the next customers.
The line inched forward.
At a side table, a beautiful young lady with matching purple scarf and hat
looked at the old woman and said, simply,
“Honey, please sit down with me,
and tell me your story.”

It’s possible, you see,
for one person to save the world.

--contributed by Mel Glenn, Brooklyn, N.Y. (from the NYTimes Metropolitan Diary.)