A kind person with a problem.

This was not where Sandra was hoping to be on a Saturday morning.

Thanks to scheduling mixups and overbooked flights, instead of eating breakfast with her brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, she was spending her 30th consecutive hour in the LAX terminal. She and a group of passengers had been stranded when their connecting flight to El Paso was canceled. She looked around blearily at the little impromptu friend group that had formed. She was at least in better shape than some of them.

She spotted a young woman sitting by herself quietly crying. She was among the stranded, but she had been quiet and withdrawn. Most of the other people had made scenes yelling at airline staff, formed small bonds of shared misery, or both. This woman had simply sat by herself, headphones in, and ignored the rest of them.

Sandra decided to approach her - it might be a bit forward but she clearly needed comfort. She crouched in front of the crying woman. "Hey there, I'm Sandra. Are you ok?"

She wiped her tears and looked up sorrowfully. "I'm Michelle. I'm alright, I'm just going to miss my brother's funeral. It starts in El Paso in an hour and I really, really needed to be there. He was about to graduate and go to UC Irvine on a full ticket and I just- I just-" She broke down again, racked with a painful sob.

Sandra's heart absolutely shattered for this poor girl. She reached out to put a comforting hand on her knee-

Sandra placed her hand on the Michelle's knee.
Sandra placed her hand on Sandra's knee.

Eyes wide, Sandra stumbled back while Michelle suddenly stiffened.
Sandra sat up straight as she saw Sandra stumble back and bump into a man walking past.

Sandra felt herself collide with someone behind her, who grunted in surprise.
Sandra saw Sandra fall into the man, who was caught off guard and stumbled back with her.
Sandra's breath was knocked out of her as a woman collided with her while she was walking.

Sandra looked at the man in surprise. "What the hell, lady?"
Sandra saw a shocked look on Sandra's face as the man scowled. "What the hell, lady?"
"What the hell, lady?" Sandra was just trying to get to the men's room when this woman bowled her over.

Sandra was confused.
Sandra was confused and scared.
Sandra was angry.

A crowd was starting to form as an airline employee ran up. She knelt beside Sandra and placed a hand on her-

The flight attendant was looking with concern at Sandra. "Ma'am, are you ok?"
The flight attendant was kneeling next to Sandra. "Ma'am, are you ok?"
The flight attendant was ignoring her and focusing on this clumsy woman. "Ma'am, are you ok?"
Sandra was trying to gauge the woman's state. "Ma'am, are you ok?"

Sandra was kneeling laying sitting asking talking angry concerned. Sandra spoke listened "What about me?" "Sir, please wait one second." "She just touched me and fell down." "I feel weird." Why do I feel hurt embarrassed sad confused-

===================

Sandra was sitting on a nondescript couch in a nondescript room with a nondescript man. He was tapping on a slate. He glanced at her uninterestedly then resumed tapping. "Subjectivity propagation. Haven't seen one of these in a while."