Maya

Maya had a stall at the Corbeil-Essones station. He sold chicken and fish and fries and Coke. He sold bread. Passengers thronging the station, a central station in the suburbs outside Paris would stop at his stall and buy a chicken sandwich. Or ham and cheese. Or fish and chips. At night, when he was closing, some young men would come up and say they were hungry. He would give them bread.

Maya was plain and short and wiry - but he had a special quality about him. He seemed to look beyond the glossy surfaces and penetrate what was underneath. He had a depth that was singularly lacking in the companions who hung about his stall.

One day he met a girl and he sold her a chicken sandwich and gave her some mineral water and fries for free and they sat under the moonlight and talked about healing and life and love.

She wore a grey hat she had bought from Gallerie Lafayette just that week and he lifted that hat, so chic, so Parisian, and told her, you look beautiful even without the hat. They sat at the taxi stand and talked while the wind blew the stars around and no taxi arrived. Soon it would be midnight. She started to look apprehensive."Look," said Maya, "don't worry. Where do you stay? If no taxi comes along, I will send you back."

And still, no taxi came. Maya went back to his stall and started to close up. The French guys who hung around the stall were derisive. "She lives where? In Tigery? That's miles out of your way. Don't bother." But Maya ignored them. He brought out a chair and said: "Sit. Don't worry about anything. I'll get you home safely."

He stopped a girl on her way to the train and asked her for directions. Yes, she knew where Tigery was. She told him. Then a taxi appeared. The girl in the grey hat rose from the chair and ran to the taxi. "Tigery?" she asked breathlessly. "Ah oui." The driver replied, nodding.

She hurtled back to Maya, with gladness in her heart. "Maya, there's a taxi. You don't have to send me home."

Maya looked sad. "Are you sure? It's no trouble at all."

"No, don't worry." And she hugged him and said goodbye.

And he said. "You are a good person. Whatever happens, remember that."

And then she was gone. But she never forgot him. And never will.