Don't Hold Back

It had been a pretty miserable day anyway, then the clouds suddenly decided to empty and the heavy rain began. Within a few seconds, the door opened and a woman - ever-so-slightly sodden - walked in.

"Hello there."
- Hi
"Um, it's a bit embarassing, but do you mind if I use your phone?"
- No, that's okay. What was the number you wanted to ring?
"Well, I need a taxi. Do you have the Yellow Page here?"
- Sure, I'll just ge-
"You see, I was just in the car with my husband and my seven year old daughter, and we'd been out all morning and had a lovely time, but then my husband and I began arguing and I decided I needed to cool off a bit so I asked him to pull over up the road. Well, I got out and he just drove off! He has my handbag and my phone and everything. And my daughter was crying in the background, Lord knows what she's thinking or feeling right now. But he just went! It's so irresponsible of him. And I'm supposed to be cooking a lunch for the whole family so I should be home now. His parents will be there already and must be wondering where I am. It's ridiculous. Luckily I have about £15 in my pocket so I should be able to pay for a taxi. I only live up the road, but I feel terribly ashamed walking up the road on my own in the rain... a middle-aged woman just walking by herself in the rain. So I should be able to pay for a taxi to just take me home. Goodness, I am sorry, this must be quite embarassing for you, you don't need to know all of this. If I can just take a look at the directory and make the phone call I will get out of your way."
- It's no problem at all, I understand. I'll just grab th-
"I can't believe he just left me there! On the side of the road, no money, no phone, no umbrella. And off he went! He has a terrible temper sometimes, and high blood pressure. The doctor has said he should exercise more but will he? Of course he won't. He's too stubborn to change his ways. We'd had a lovely morning, but then things got a bit heated and I just thought I'd do the right thing and calm us down a bit. But off he went. And with our daughter too. I don't know what she must think about it all. It's ridiculous. He just gets worked up about nothing and then starts to get angry and soon he's boiling over and everybody's shouting at each other. I just had to get out. And now I'm walking up the road by myself and everybody must be thinking, 'Why is that middle-aged woman walking by herself in the rain without an umbrella?'. So I walked through the fields and the woods instead to make sure that less people saw me. Hopefully none of my friends did. I'm so ashamed. But that's why my feet are so wet now, I've had to walk through the long grass to keep out of sight of the road. But goodness, you don't want to hear all this. I'm terribly sorry. I don't mean to embarass you."
- It's fine, not a problem. I should be able to find a number for a tax-
"He's never been violent, I should just say that. He just gets angry and starts to shout. He's not used to people disagreeing with him. Nobody ever disagreed with him before. But I'm the first, so he finds it difficult to take. But he just doesn't learn. He needs to relax, and find a way to do so. And he needs to exercise and eat better. But will he? No, he won't. It's awful. And now I know I have a house full of people waiting for me, and here I am walking up the road by myself because my husband has left me behind, and he obviously isn't going to tell them what happened. Of course not."
- Um, no, of course not.

In the brief pause, I escaped to get the Yellow Pages, whilst the lady continued to tell me what had happened. I returned, turned the directory to the relevant page, and handed it over to her with the telephone.

"Thank you so much. This must be so embarassing for you. You don't need to hear any of this. I shall spare you any of the details."