on the street - Saigon

---o(O)o---

You know how some people leave a SUBJECTIVE  impression on you ?  

                        ---o(O)o---

By the wall, on the footpath, sits a Vietnamese woman, about 25 years old. 

Her hair is all over the place, she has no shoes, her clothes are rags. An old empty bag lies next to her on the ground. The skin colour of her feet and ankles tells me she hasn't had a shower for a long time. 

It's VERY unusual to see this in Saigon. 

I slow down in case she asks for help, but she is in a world of her own. 

"Hm... give her something ? 

Stop being such a bloddy  doooooo gooder Haiko  !!

Just keep going, you can't be helping strays and waifs all over the place." 

Looking back I see a Vietnamese man stop and give her some money.

I walk back the way I have just come and order a baguette from the stand on the road. A baguette with pate and meat and all vegies they put inside. 

Walking past her for the third time I hold out the baguette to her. 

She stares at it for a few seconds. 

I'm feeling silly, she doesn't want it. Oh well. It's my issue. 

Then she looks up at me, and her hand comes out. she takes the bread and very carefully puts it on the ground for later. 

Fine. 

I leave. 

End of story ?

Well sort of.

                   ---o(O)o---

You know how some poeple leave a SUBJECTIVE  impression on you ?

They have a personality, 

A flavour, a colour a  taste all their own. 

You  walk away and their character lingers inside you. 

Well  that's what happened with this lady. 

She reached out for the baguette, and her attitude, her energy, her personality was all in that simple action. 

It was not a bad impression, quite light, nice, gentle and fierce, smart and intelligent. 

Come to think of it, she reminds me of one of the characters in one of the stories I'm writing. Just a little. 

How come a meeting of 1O seconds  leaves a bigger impression of her personality than people I've met for hours or weeks ? 

Strange....

interesting....