She calls me Sarah...

I was working last night, closing. We have this customer we occasionally refer to as Crazy Mary who comes in and sits and talks to everyone around her and won't leave until you walk her to the door at close. I dread her coming in. I see her come through the front door, and I bolt to the back room to avoid getting stuck in a long conversation of smiles and nods and "Alright Mary, I've got to get back to work." But people seem much more eccentric when you are ignorant of their situation.

Last night we were slow and our cafe was mostly empty when Mary arrived. She talked to me briefly, mentioning multiple times how empty the place seemed then proceeded to the back where she sat down. When I told her we were closing and she had to leave, she seemed sad and lonely, and I saw, for a short moment, how she's not all that crazy, but mostly lonely. She comes to our store because she can sit there and drink a mocha and usually find someone to listen to her, if even half-heartedly.

Perhaps Crazy Mary is really just a lonely woman who finds its easier to talk to herself than no one at all.