Simple Girl

Sung-Hui stepped into the store and stomped on the rubber mat, pounding the snow from her boots. She avoided the condescending glares from the other customers, realizing some things never change.

She was a quiet, unstylish, soft little woman. She was attractive; her hair was simply washed and worn naturally while she dressed in hand-me down clothing from thrift stores, even though she never looked decrepit in her appearance. From time to time, men would watch her walk down the town streets, but rarely did anyone ever approach her. Attractive was one thing; available was another. To everyone that knew her, and in a town of medium size, a lot of people knew her, she was left to her own devices as someone often is when people feel someone is beneath them for reasons real and unjust.

Sung-Hui was known by a great number of the people in town; yet, it was quite possible that no one ever really knew anything about her other than what people relayed during idle gossip. And while this didn’t bother Sung-Hui any, it did set the tone for how the rest of the town felt about her.

“Why fight the storm?” she said to the clerk in the post office. “It will just blow you over.”

The postal clerk would smile at her, take her money and then sigh to herself. “Wind or sleet,” she replied. “Wind or sleet.”