Pathos of the Momentary Smile

Like nearly all women under sixty she would have deftly avoided meeting the eyes of an unknown man— but occasionally an exception happens by chance and her unconscious skill at avoidance gets instantly replaced by a human generosity which is either inherently feminine or gender-trained, as you please; she glanced at me exactly when I glanced at her in the store at the mall and so she gave me that momentary slight smile which implies Though many men are dangerous, and I do not intend to suggest the slightest likelihood that you and I will meet or talk, much less make love and much less together conceive a sweet helpless child, still our eyes have just met and in this there is an undeniable contact between your humanity and mine and you are probably coping with some difficulties of masculine humanity while I cope with those of feminine humanity; and so I wish you well.