"I'm frightened she's going to die!"

I was on the train yesterday and the child opposite me, a girl of about fourteen, was having a conversation with someone on the phone. It was impossible not to hear it. She knew I could hear it.

She was relating a story to someone of how she had come back from school one afternoon last week and found her mother collapsed on the floor, bleeding and only semi-conscious. It would be a terrifying situation for anyone to be in, let alone a girl of that age. She kept her head sufficiently well to call an ambulance and her mother is apparently currently in intensive care.

The police took over at that point and she is currently in the care of people she does not know. This is not working well. It rarely does. She was close to tears as she spoke.

When the conversation was finished she glared at me, obviously furious that I had been able to hear it. I was almost going to say nothing at all but then I decided to say something,

"If you want to swear at me go ahead."

She swore, fiercely and fluently but quietly. She told me what an awful person I was to listen in on a private conversation and how I could not possibly understand how she was feeling. 

Then, suddenly, she stopped.  

"It's my station," she told me and then, "Thank you so much for letting me do that. Thank you. Thank you."

She actually managed a lopsided attempt at a smile and rushed off the train.

All I can do now is hope that she will be able to cope with whatever comes next. 

I suppose someone will ask, "Why didn't you just ask, "Are you okay?" The answer to that is that it was perfectly obvious she was not okay. I didn't think that question would have been right at all. I didn't really think about what I told her but now I know I was giving her permission to be rude to a stranger who dared to think she was not okay. In a way I am glad her station came when it did because I have no idea what I would have said or done next.  

Did I do the right thing? Should I just have "shut up"? Phone calls used to be conducted in the privacy of our own homes. I was reminded of the old "party line" calls that were possible when we lived in remote areas. The Senior Cat had to "book a call" if he needed to talk to someone in the Education Department in the city. (This was so nobody else could listen in to the conversation.) It all seems so strange now when people conduct their business quite openly.

I just hope that young girl's mother recovers and they can be together again.