As a late November afternoon should be: cold and bleak, and windy. The girl walked calmly along the boulevard, the weather did not seem to bother her. A newspaper was blown up high and the wind played with a number of empty chip trays; made them dance gracefully around. A man with a dog, two people arm in arm, a lost tourist, a few youngsters hanging around a bench aimlessly and bored; except for a few eccentrics, the boulevard was almost deserted. The sea was rough. The white heads of the waves stormed the beach. The sky was gray and also beginning to darken menacingly; black clouds crept ominously ashore.

Hadn’t the girl heard the footsteps behind her? Was she lost in thought? The footsteps slowly came closer. It was the footsteps of two people. Now the girl seemed to notice them, but she continued on her way, calm and serene. The footsteps grew louder and more urgent, clearly discernible now; maybe just a few feet behind her. They came within three feet of her. The girl slowed down. She heard the footsteps catch up with her, how they were almost beside her.

They were next to her!

A young couple in love, with an umbrella completely destroyed by the wind, hurriedly passed her by. She followed them with her eyes, saw them quickly enter a cafe and take a seat at a table behind the window - next to a table with an older man, who was staring wistfully out from behind his drink. For a moment it seemed as if the girl was looking at him. She looked happy. She smiled and walked on.

This was Sophia! Whom I taught in sixth grade.

But it could also just have been a girl in the wind.