Happiness is a shared walk

The other day as I was walking home from the bus stop on my way home from work, I passed a young woman and said a cursory hello.  To my surprise, she sped up her pace a bit and started walking with me.  The sun was setting -- it does that earlier these days and I'd worked late -- and she seemed relieved have another woman to walk with.  I realized that this wasn't just from a safety issue -- Saxonwold is usually pretty tame -- but more for the company.  She told me that her name was Happiness and that she walks from her home in Norwood to her job as a domestic in Parkview every day, twice a day.  Now I'm a hell of a walker, but she's completely got me beat.  I thought about all the people that think my walking as exceptional, but people like Happiness walk farther every day with much less fanfare.  Buses don't serve that route and to take taxis would require two taxis in each direction, which would eat into her day's profit.  So, like me, Happiness hits the pavement.  We spent the time chit-chatting about our lives here, where we come from (Zim for her, America for me), our families, our love lives, religion; covering quite a few topics for a 15 minute walk, really.  As I turned to head up my street, I wished her the best in beating the rapidly setting sun.  She still had a 30 minute walk ahead of her with about 10 minutes of sunlight left.