Small Adventure 68

The other night, I was coming home from work, and I had to stop at the light and wait for it to turn green. There were a few other people there before me including a middle-aged woman wearing a somber-looking kimono, and 1-inch heel sandals. The light turned red for the cross traffic, then the right turn only arrow lit up. The rest of us waited for our light to turn green, but the woman immediately started crossing the street. The kimono hem was wrapped tightly around her ankles, so she could only take small steps. But, she was taking those steps fast. About halfway across she tripped and fell. The people nearest me all gasped with "ah", as if they were gut-punched, and they waited for her to get up to see if she was ok. I expect that they were thinking that she was drunk. But they also were probably aware of just how expensive the kimono was.

The woman stood up, and without pausing continued across the street. The light turned green for the rest of us and I crossed after her. At the opposite corner, she turned to cross the next street of the intersection and went through that before the light turned green, too. On the other side, she stopped at the entrance of a supermarket, and only then did she check whether she'd torn the kimono when she landed on her knees. Everyone else kept on walking in their own directions, and no one stopped to ask if she were all right. But, they were probably thinking, "just another inebriated older person. How sad that society causes these kinds of things to happen."