The Encounter

THE ENCOUNTER

I saw an old man standing in a bus station. It was early on Sunday morning and the streets were empty. That was my favorite moment of the week when I needed solitude more than ever.

The man was standing alone as he was looking at the cloudy sky. I shook my head as a silent “good morning” and he whispered a soft “hello”, while his eyes were still looking up.

“That’s weird”, I said to myself and I moved further, trying not to stand close to him. He didn’t seem to be sane and something made me think that he might have been dangerous.

He didn’t seem to be bothered by my reticence he didn’t even seem to notice it. He kept looking at the sky as if there were something there that was revealed only to him.

He looked like he was in his world governed by its own rules and principles, known only by him.

His clothes were old and weary, yet clean, and his face and silver hair seemed well groomed. My first impression was that he was a beggar, but the fresh scent that he emulated contradicted that thought.

As he looked at the sky, he suddenly lowered his glance and measured me from head to toe, as if he was trying to capture my deepest feelings and thoughts. For a moment, I thought that he knows what I was thinking and I felt deeply embarrassed. He was looking like he was scanning my entire body with his piercing gray eyes as if he was able to see my soul under the clothes and the flesh.

I looked away, shy and confused, grabbing my phone and pretending that I have something really important to read. I turned the other way, anxiously waiting for the bus to arrive.

“You know”, he suddenly said with a soft voice, “it’s good to be king”. And then bowed his head for a moment and continued analyzing the sky.

“This is it”, I said to myself, cursing my poor decision of leaving home that morning. “This man is a lunatic and maybe he’d throw me in front of the bus”. I didn’t know what to do. I should have gone from the bus station, but I needed to arrive somewhere that morning at a certain time, and that is the reason that I was there waiting for the bus to come and not walking to my destination. And to be honest, I couldn’t afford to pay for a taxi at that time, so the bus was the only way of transport available for me.

I moved then a little further, hoping that he wouldn’t say anything again.

“I am not crazy if this is what maybe I made you believe”, he said whispering, and at the same time reading my thoughts. “I am what you might call “a deep thinker” and he looked right into my eyes.

“I believe we’ve met before”, he continued, without waiting for my answer. And then he started again to contemplate the sky. He looked up like he was about to discover all the universe's secrets that were about to reveal to his eyes only.

As he was stepping away from me, a strange impulse drew me towards him. That’s it, I had to figure out what this strange man was all about. I had to discover the reason the universe brought him for these short moments into my life.

A few days ago I made the decision not to be afraid anymore – to let the past behind without hiding from it, to embrace the new, and to try to see things from different perspectives. I needed to step out of my life and taste the feeling of being alive. But should I start this new experience by opening up to this old man? As far as I know, he might as well be a serial killer, as certainly he’s not sane according to the general definition of sanity.

My heart was racing, my mind was fighting with my intuition and I surrendered, waiting for the winner. Deep inside I felt that I should let myself go with the flow, but my brain tried to show me all the warning signs.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner – in conclusion, I decided to find out what is the deal with the old man, hoping at least that he wasn’t dangerous, as for his insanity…. I could deal with it, it’s no stranger to me.

I turned my eyes to him catching him staring at me.

“So you finally decided I’m not dangerous” he whispered.

Yes, I thought, puzzled by his reaction. How in the world did he know what I was thinking?

I tried to stop any thought, afraid to let him in my head. It was too much even for my new openness.

“Come look at the sky with me, you might be surprised by what you could find out behind the clouds”, he spoke softly.

“The bus will be here any minute, just open your heart and mind. There ‘s a big chance you’d find your answers”.

“What do you mean? What answers?” I raised my voice impatiently

“We all have our questions, don’t we? We all struggle to find our answers, even if we feel helpless sometimes. And all of us look for signs to be assured we are on the right path”

“How do I know I’m doing the right thing? How do I know I’m on the right path and I shouldn’t have gone in the opposite direction?”

He smiled gently and said continuing to look at the sky:

“Well, you’re here, waiting for a bus. There must be a reason you’re doing it and not something else. You agreed to talk to me and stopped looking oppositely. That is a clear reason for this too. Where are you coming from and where are you heading to? What are you leaving behind and what do you expect to find ahead?”

I looked at him confused. I didn’t know how to respond. I still wasn’t able to open up to people, not even to my closest friends. Still, I felt that I could trust this weird old man, despite so many years of emotional walls that were built around me. The lack of trust in people is my burden and I have to carry it until I would have the strength to be vulnerable no matter the costs.

I needed to say something and I pronounced the silliest words I could find:

“Who are you?”

He looked at me and his face had no expression. Then he looked up to the sky, without saying a single word.

I realized then that he had his hair longer than men used to wear it, especially older men. He had long silver hair and I couldn’t determine his real age, he might have looked younger that his years. Maybe he was in his seventies, maybe in his eighties, maybe in his sixties… I got lost in my thoughts trying to figure him out.

I tried to say something and the words betrayed me, not wanting to be spoken. And then I thought that maybe this is what I should do. Maybe I should look up too, standing by him.

Maybe there is something up here that is waiting for me to see. Maybe my miracle would finally come.