The Crossroads

Driving home from work yesterday, I saw the young man pacing back and forth at the intersection. Choosing neither left nor right, neither forward nor backward.

Pacing.

As I approached in my vehicle, so did another vehicle.
Little red car.
It stopped next to the young man. He then turned and pounded on the car's windows and roof with his fists and arms. Kicked its door.
I couldn't hear his shouts, but she could.

She was in the little car's driver seat. The young woman with her face buried in her hands.
She roughly wiped tears from her face as I passed.

Eventually, she pulled herself together enough to unlock the door, and the young man opened the passenger door and got in.
From my rear-view window, I watched them drive away.

Now, most anyone else would guess this was a simple boyfriend/girlfriend fight:
They'd disagreed about something small.
It escalated into a fight.
He walked away.
She was afraid of losing him.
She went after him to beg him to stay.
They decided to come together and move ahead.

That's what I thought... the first time I'd seen them at this crossroad.
The first time I saw them was a couple weeks ago.
Doing the very same thing.

Now they've done it twice.
He's pacing at the corner, she drives up, he beats on her car until she lets him in.

Once, it's a fight.
Twice, there's something wrong.

Once, it's a mistake.
Twice, it's a choice.

So now, I wonder...
How come the boyfriend stopped at the corner?
Why didn't he keep going?
If she was SO wrong and made him SO angry, why didn't he just go?

Okay, the first time, maybe, it was just a fight.
Maybe he didn't really want to leave.

But the second time?
Perhaps he knew he'd made her feel bad enough to think she was nothing without him.
He knew she'd come begging him not to leave.
And he was p!ssed because she'd made him stand at the corner with nowhere to go for so long before she came to get him. And then the door was locked and that made him look stupid, too.

I don't know this couple.
I've only seen them in my neighborhood twice.
And this is what they've done both times.

I find it sad that no one can tell this young lady that her boyfriend is a jerk.
Oh, I'm sure plenty of people have tried.
But she doesn't hear it.
Because *they* just don't understand him.

Well, honey, a lot of us women know just what you mean.
We've been there.
We've dated that guy that no one else understood as completely as we did.
We've cried those tears, too.

But maybe the next time that "man" of yours is pacing at the crossroads going nowhere, you might hang back for just a moment longer.

And take a good look at him.

Because if he's the one with nowhere to go, sweetheart, you're not the one in the relationship who's worthless.

And just maybe, next time you'll leave the door locked.
And you'll turn the corner.
And keep driving.