There was a wman wearing an hijab

outside the local charity shop. She was looking at a small table which had been placed there for sale.
I was a little further down the road talking to someone who has not been well. A man, in his thirties perhaps, walked past us and stopped when he reached the woman wearing the hijab. 
I won't try and repeat his tirade here. Nobody needs to read that sort of thing. It amounted to "you have no business to be shopping here. You aren't a Christian. You should go back to where you came from."
I excused myself from the person I had been talking to and went up, phone in hand.
      "Excuse me, would you like me to call the police?"
I said this not to the woman but the man having a go at her. I must have looked as angry as I felt. He swore at me as well but moved on - rather rapidly.
The local charity shop is run by a Catholic organisation. Anyone is welcome to use it. I know most of the volunteer staff by name. They would be as horrified as I was.
I turned to the woman who was still standing there staring after him in a bewildered sort of way.
     "Have you got time to come and have tea or coffee with me?" I asked.
She gave me a rather shaky smile and said quietly, "I'm due at the doctor in a few minutes."
"Then may I go over there with you? I'm going that way."
"Thank you."
We didn't say anything else. It's just a walk to the corner and across the road to the surgery. When we reached the point where we had to part she looked at me and again said, "Thank you."
I hope her blood pressure was back to a normal level when the doctor took it - because mine wasn't.