Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner? -Ruth 2:10, NIV
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”, he asked to the old Ruth.
“Why, yes, my dear”, she responded. It was right too early for an elderly woman to travel across town in a train, so Holden's gesture was very much appreiated.
For a moment, Ruth kept chuckling, and that lifted Holden's spirits in some sort of way.
In some sort of way, she remembered the first time she arrived to this city. Broken, poor, young and widowed, with no one to share the rest of her life with. A beautiful woman, but scorned and scarred by life. There was a dream she had to follow whatever the cost. And of course, no one understood her, they thought she was crazy and impulsive and stupid and still depressed.
Ruth took a knife from the kitchen top. She quietly sat on the floor, looking at the cracked ceiling filled with termites in heat. Her head rested on a pillow, her pillow smoothened on the side. And Ruth continued playing with the knife, crying on a pillow, saying, “It's too late for me, it's too late for me, it's too late for me.” With a strike to her gut, she played with the force. May she rest in--
Ding dong!
Ding dong!
“Miss Ruth, Miss Ruth, Miss Ruth! We need your help!”