Sheltering Trees

While driving through Nashville on a brilliant spring afternoon, I stopped at a busy intersection where I noticed two young women sitting together at a bus stop. One was tall, her large frame amply carrying a great mass of weight. while the other was petite and svelte. By appearance alone, you would easily think they were strangers just waiting for the bus. However, as I sat watching them I noticed they were engaged in a carefree conversation. It wasn't guarded or stifled as it is with strangers or purposely polite as it can be with acquaintances. One filed her nails as the other dug through her purse looking for that last piece of lint-covered gum, their conversation never waning for a moment. Glancing down the street and then to their watches, the decision was made to forsake the bus ride and walk to wherever they were headed. As they got up from the bench, their disparate sizes could be seen in full view. These two really didn't look like friends. But as they began to walk, one of them said something that stopped the other in her tracks, doubling her over in laughter. The laughter shook her every inch, and she grabbed the shoulder of her friend in support; and together the two stood on the side of a busy street in Nashville and laughed in complete and total hysterics. There was no doubt that these two were friends.