stranger

It was sunny. I went to the beach to eat lunch. I followed as the clouds danced across the sky. I watched the sand lift up in the wind and settle on my pants. I stared at the ocean and hated it for wrongs it didn't commit. I had tears in my eyes masked behind sunglasses.
I saw Red Beard when he was a long way off. For being such a big beach, he was walking straight towards me. I always go out of my way to avoid people, especially when they are sitting alone. Couldn't he walk anywhere else? I tried to make myself invisible.
It didn't work.
Red Beard came right up to me and said, "Hello, how are you today?" I replied, "Hello, I'm good. How are you?" I was what I considered to be far from good, and while I was cursing myself for failing at being invisible, I was thankful for my sunglasses that helped me hide the tears behind them.
Red Beard raised his hands up towards the sky and said, "Well?? It's sunny!" I smiled back assuming he meant all was well as most people in this land equate sun with good without factoring in that warmth is better than cold sun. I guess some sun is better than none.
As Red Beard read my deepest thoughts he said, "Ya know, things could be better. That's true. But things could also be a hell of a lot worse." I didn't feel like we were talking about the weather anymore.
With that he walked away and lit a cigarette.