Sometimes you don’t want to talk.
It happened to one of my friends yesterday. Extremely upset about something that had been said to her (by me? I wonder...), she had just wanted to be left alone, preferring her own company. She shook her head determinedly, blinking back tears (she will deny their existence, of course) when I offered to sit with her for a while.
She didn’t want to talk at that time. Though the Lord alone knows what we could have talked about – what can you say to a dear one who is one the verge of tears but is determined not to weep in front of you?
Sometimes words are not enough.
I met her again today and she was noticeably quieter. We chattered a bit of this and that. Exchanged notes about friends who somehow never kept in touch and walked down to a cinema hall where she had to meet someone.
The person she had to meet was late. So we just stood there. It was kind of strange. We were watching the traffic, watching people leap in and out of buses, grinning at careless motorists getting booked by the police.
And not saying a word.
It was almost a while before she noticed the silence and said, “Why are we not talking?”
I replied, without really thinking, “We don’t need to.”
And it was true. We just stood there, watching the traffic. A couple of friends on an October night. Not speaking much. And yet, at least in my case, just happy to be near someone who cared. Honestly, I don’t think she was unhappy either.
Sometimes you don’t need to talk.
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