An Afternoon by the Grey Quayside.

"Are you ok?" Mademoiselle asked as we sat around a small round coffee table and looked out at the blustery quayside through the glass walls. Her legs were crossed and her right arm draped casually over the back of her chair. I sat with my arms crossed and my left hand resting under my chin. Outside the grey, overcast sky hung low over the risen tides of the river as passersby traipsed across the rain splattered roads and pathways in their parkas and raincoats. 

The soft music of the coffee shop tinkled in the background as we continued our silent reverie out the window. It was my first time there and for some reason today, I had felt the urge to come inside and have some tea I thought as I wrapped my hands around the warm mug. 

No I was not ok. I was as grey as the sky outside and my mood as overcast. I just sat silently watching the cars and vans clear out what was left of the morning Sunday market, pulling the stalls and carts away one by one and suddenly it was empty again, as if they were never even there and the quayside was as clear of vendors as it is on any other day. 

Mademoiselle sat patiently sipping her designer coffee, not a ripple in the silent waters of her being while mine flurried and eddied like the waters of the river before me pushed along by the wind. A solid wall of black. 

"Why show me kindness when there is none there?" I whispered. 

Mademoiselle just smiled and looked outside. "Because things are never so simple," she said. An unusual line of commentary from her. 

Mademoiselle giving me sage advice. I never thought I'd see the day. There's more to her than meets the eye. I suppose just because we perform a specific function does not mean there isn't any more to us than we usually show. 

"But there is no kindness there, is there?" I asked her vaguely. 

Mademoiselle pursed her lips slightly in thought as she slowly studied the arch of the bridge outside. 

"You never know. There actually could be. And could have been. Just because things change doesn't mean that it was never there. And just because there may be more than one reason, doesn't mean kindness isn't one of them." "Of course, we'd never know. Or maybe just not yet." 

Mademoiselle swirled her coffee in the cup and placing it slowly down on the table, looked up at me. 

"Don't let your depression cloud your judgement. Pessimism isn't the same as being realistic. It's an adulteration of what really is all the same."