Marcy

I found Marcy in the park, taking advantage of the outside exercise bike and the late winter sun. As I approached her and waved her demeanour changed and she suddenly became discernibly anxious. She got off the exercise bike and backed away explaining that she was not engaging with anyone due to having a lung condition and being fearful of the risk that Covid therefore represented.
I explained I understood and that I didn’t mean to make her feel anxious, just that her happy peddling in the park seemed like too good a picture not to try and make. I explained I could easily keep more than 2m away and then, hearing her accent, asked her where she was from.
‘Botson’ she said ‘but that was a long time ago’. I said I knew Boston quite well from having been there on business and then asked her what field of work she had been in. She explained that she had been an experimental psychotherapist, another point of mutual connection as I told of my uncle in California, also a reasonably eminent psychotherapist.
Seeing she was more at ease and having talked more I asked if I could photograph her, just because we could, because our humanity demands it and because I could sense she was a good soul. She agreed. We exchanged details and a few days later I got a wonderful email from her, saying that she was sorry if I felt she had misjudged me but having now seen my work, she recognised the true nature of my soul. A week after that, we ran into each other again.
‘Two chance meetings so close together is the universe’s way of telling us there is something we can learn from each other’ I said. She agreed.