The Po Show

Snapshots

You know how sometimes you get brief looks into other people's human dramas? When, just for a minute or a second or a millisecond, you get a glimpse of an event that undoubtedly is huge in that person's life, but you don't see what comes next and you never know what ultimately happened. It can be incredibly poignant.

This morning as I was driving home by myself from the mall, I passed the Women's Health Center (yes, they perform abortions there). Standing in front of the door, at the bottom of some steps, was a young woman, late teens or very early 20s. Her eyes were downcast and she was half-turned away from the door, which faced the street. At the top of the steps, separated from the woman by a railing, with her back to me and the street, was a middle-aged woman who appeared to be talking to the young woman, but naturally I couldn't hear what she was saying.

And then I drove past.

Was the young woman going in for an abortion? Was the middle-aged woman there to try and talk her out of it? Or to offer support? Or is this a total fabrication on my part and the young woman was just going in for a pap smear?

Something about the look on her face makes me wonder.