A Chance Encounter

We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.—Fyodor Dostoevsky

- By Jo Mooy

The coronavirus and COVID-19 has kept us separated and at a distance from one another, especially in grocery stores. We walk the aisles, careful not to pass too close to other shoppers, or giving the aisle a wide berth if too many are standing in it. That separation is necessary to keep the virus from spreading. But the same separation removes a human link that can emerge when strangers come together in a chance encounter.

Walking around the grocery aisles today, wary of each other, I remembered just such a chance encounter back in January. It was an encounter that left an indelible memory of a man I met. He comes to mind often because he was in his early 90s and is probably one of the elderly population of “seniors” who may be physically at risk.