The Girl This Morning.

Forewarning: it's not a funny entry. It's concerning the human response to emotional experiences.

This morning at the bank was a somewhat trying one. I noticed that a teller a few windows down from me was helping a teenage girl with her seemingly mentally challenged teen brother. The boy, out of mere incompetence of his environment, was making loud growls and moans, which attracted a few people's attention but was not yet alarming. I glanced over and realized that the girl was stunningly pretty; an intriguing combination of a woman's long smooth black hair and striking eyes, and a young girl's easy, almost unassuming prettiness. Her appearance was incredibly different from her brother's own excusable awkwardness, and at one point she looked around apologetically, unable to silence him. I was aware of her trying to walk him away from the teller window, his sounds becoming louder, more profuse, almost a gurgle... and then, from the corner of my eye, I saw him collapse to the ground, taking her with him because she had been holding onto his arm.

I tried to continue conducting transactions as normal, avoiding looking over to keep the customers in line moving- to keep them from upsetting the girl more. But I knew what was going on, and at one moment I glanced over and saw only the girl's face, her body turned away from the lobby to conceal it from everyone, but her head, in that moment, turned up in despair. And I saw that she was crying- a real cry, out of fear and embarassment and anything else she could possibly feel in that situation. Even though I only saw her face for a second, her cheeks red with tears and silent sobs, I was incredibly heart-broken by the scene... by this young girl unable to do anything for her brother, by the situation itself of him having some sort of episode, and by the look of someone so young and pretty sitting against the hard slate tiles of the lobby floor. I can't even describe what emotion that is. It's shocking to see a beautiful little girl who feels so responsible for something that she cannot possibly control, and it's heart-breaking to see her collapsed on a bank floor, crying uncontrollably but too embarassed to sob aloud.

Anyway, that stuck with me.