Isolation

Crossing paths

"Hi," a worker smiled and approached River as he wandered aimlessly through the grocery store. "Can I help you find anything?"

"Uh, yes. That would be nice." He nodded and pulled out a crumbled list from his pocket. "Cat food?"

The worker lit up at that.

"I love cats. Well, all animals in general. But cats are nice. I just wish I wasn't allergic."

River smiled at the stranger, who became a little flustered for going off like that.

"Oh, sorry, um, cat food, yes." He looked down briefly before pointing across the building to a specific aisle. "Um, aisle 14 is where there's the pet stuff. There's food, toys, collars, and litter...sand...?"

"I've never heard anyone call it 'litter sand' before." River laughed but stopped when he saw how embarrassed the worker had become.

"Sorry," he coughed, "thank you for that. And I don't know what you'd call it either."

"Well," the person continued, "everything you'd want for your cat should be in that aisle."

"Thank you." River said again.

"Of course," he nodded. "Let me know if I can do anything else to help."

River was about to walk away before he stopped himself.

"Actually there is something. If you don't mind me asking for your opinion."

The worker shrugged and smiled a little. "Sure, what do you need?"

"What do you get for someone who won't eat?"

He thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging again. "Food, I guess."

"Yeah?" River grinned, unable to hide his amusement. "No sh!t, Sherlock."

"I'm sorry," he looked down, again embarrassed. "I was only trying to help."

River sighed.

"I'm sorry too, I didn't mean it like that. It was only a joke. But my, uh, friend hasn't eaten in what seems like forever. And I just don't know what to do to help him out, you know?"

The worker nodded and looked up, thinking about it for a minute.

"My brother was like that for a long time." He sighed, a hint of sadness in his tone. "I was really worried about him. He got himself sick a lot because he wasn't eating enough."

"Well, what did you do?" River asked hopefully, thinking he could try something similar with Mike.

"Nothing, really." He shrugged. "He came around after a while."

Something didn't quite make sense about that.

"What do you mean 'he came around after a while?' Surely, you did something, right?"

"Well," he looked down at the ground again. It seemed personal, and River kicked himself slightly for striking that chord. "He had a lot of deeper stuff going on that he had to work out...But once he did, he was a lot happier, and he started eating again just on his own."

River nodded, guessing that it would be better if he didn't ask the man to elaborate.

"Do you want my advice?" He asked suddenly, and River nodded again.

"Don't force him to do anything," he continued, "if he wants to eat, he'll eat. If he doesn't, he won't. But if you're really worried, you should talk to him, not me."

River sighed and gave another nod, pushing his list back into his pocket. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about Mike but chose not to worry about it too much. Not until he was awake, at least.

"Thank you for that..." He said, holding out his hand. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

The worker smiled and returned the handshake.

"It's Peter. I'm glad I was able to help."

River nodded and was about to go to the aisles but stopped when Peter called out to him.

"Hey, I hope your friend feels better."

"Me, too."

He smiled and gave Peter a small wave before he headed down the aisle.