The First Encounter

It was cold and snow was falling heavily from the grey clouds above, it was hard to see anything in that weather. I was sitting on a step under a small canopy across from an empty city park. I had my tattered grey sweater on as well as a black toque. My tent was a half hour walk away, my hope was to wait out the storm and then walk back to my tent. However, as I was closing my eyes to sleep through the storm, a person approached from the distance, she was wearing fuzzy white earmuffs, a rose pink coloured scarf, rose pink coloured mittens, and a puffy brown winter jacket. What is she doing out in a storm like this? And why is she approaching me? I thought. 

The girl came up to me, searching the area for a moment as if looking for something or someone. “Could I sit with you for a bit?” the girl asked.

Why would this girl want to sit with me? I asked myself. I’m sure I appeared fairly unkempt and perhaps irritated. “Sure,” was the only word that I responded to her with.

The girl sat beside me, shivering in the cold. “What are you doing out in the cold without warm clothes?” the girl asked.

“That’s a rather odd way to start a conversation isn’t it?” I replied defensively, “do you always just walk up to a stranger with no introduction and ask about things that aren’t any of your business?”

The girl seemed unphased by my reply, I had half hoped she would’ve left because of it. “I apologise, I’m  just concerned for your wellbeing, you seem cold and I want to make sure you’re alright,” she said.

“Of course I’m cold, the same applies to everyone else who lives on the streets.” I said.

The girl still appeared unbothered, glancing around the area in thought for a moment. “Alright, how old are you then? The girl asked, “you seem so young to be living out here, uh-”

“Miles,” I respond with my name, “and I’m nineteen. Believe it or not, you don’t have to be old and without a family to be homeless.”

“Nineteen? Do you-” She seemed to have stopped herself to rethink her question, looking down towards my cold shaking hands. “Here, you can take these.” The girl took off her pink mittens and offered them to me.

Without much thought or pickiness towards the feminine colour, I accepted the mittens. “I’m confused,” I stated, “why is it you care about me? Why do you even want to talk to me in the first place?”

“What? is it not normal for people to talk to you? You’re human just like me, I believe we should help people out whenever we are able to, no need to keep what I have to myself,” she replied.

“That sounds stupid. So you’re saying you will just give up everything you own to some stranger without any thought that he might be dangerous or perhaps even harm you? Or are you just trying to play the hero because you’re so much better than me?” I asked in return.

“Playing the hero?” she asked, “Why would I come talk to one person with nobody else in sight and help them in order to ‘play the hero’? Would I not want people to see me help you? so I could be praised for it? I help out of a genuine want to do it, not because I’m better than you, we are both human, we are equally great! I also don’t believe you’re dangerous or intend to harm me. Sure, you’ve been defensive and closed off, however, I don’t think of that as threatening. You let me sit here, you replied to my questions with honest answers, and you accepted a gift without any physical aggression. If you had intended to harm me you would have tried by now,” she said.

I asked in a rude tone, “you think you’re so special and different don’t you? Do you just enjoy making all these assumptions about me?” I watched her eyes shift for a moment. Did that hurt her? I asked myself, it doesn’t matter, she doesn’t matter, she’s no better than any other person in this stupid city.

Her expression returned to being peaceful almost as quickly as the hurt in her eyes appeared. This time she didn’t give a response, she remained quiet. At this point the snow was slowing down and the park was visible across the street. The girl reached into the pocket of her puffy brown coat, pulling out a small envelope, in it was a gift card to a nearby coffee shop with five dollars on it. “I work at this coffee shop down a few blocks from here, you should stop by sometime for a free coffee, perhaps we can have a better conversation in a much warmer environment!” She stood up from the step and held out the gift card towards me.

I took the gift card hesitantly, I didn’t respond to her, I wasn’t sure what I thought of her offer, I wasn’t sure what I thought of her in general. Once the card was in my hand, she gave me a gentle smile.

“It was nice talking to you Miles,” she said, “I’ll see you later!” She then walked away back onto the snowy streets of the city. 

It was an odd conversation to me, I wasn’t sure what I thought. That girl was so odd, everything about it was odd. What reason does she have to care about someone like me? I thought, looking at the gift card in my hand, I was still wearing the rose pink mittens she gave me. “Wait- what’s your name?” I asked quickly, standing up in hopes of hearing her response, but she was gone as quickly as she had appeared.