Cracks

    
     Strangers ahead. 
     This evening during a stroll, I noticed two women walking toward me from the direction I was going. They were in their early twenties and chatting up a storm. We both occupied the same lane of an empty road.  
    We crossed paths. I nodded and said hello. They did not reply. Nor did they even look at me.
    Whenever possible I greet people that I pass on sidewalks or quiet streets. Often they don't respond in kind. It's embarrassing.
    Twenty minutes after I'd been snubbed, those women again headed my way. That's because we'd looped in circle.
     I had a choice: Play it safe and stare down at the cracks in the pavement, or risk further embarrassment and say hello.
     I nodded at them and mouthed a hello. One of the women cracked me a smile.