It was after the fourth day of school that Anna met the woman at the bus stop. It was late in the afternoon, just before the sun sunk below the cover of the tall buildings.

She sat next to the woman. Anna looked to her left, hoping that she would see a bus in the distance. Nothing. She looked at the face of the woman sitting next to her, but only for a brief moment. Sad, terribly sad.

"Are you ok?" Anna asked.

The woman unfroze and her expression warmed itself into a smile, "Oh, yes dear. It's nothing. I'm fine."

"You looked very sad. Are you sure you're ok?" Anna repeated.

The woman turned her head away and looked to her left, nothing. She turned back to Anna and said, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm a bit tired, and I've been waiting here a long time."

"I know how you feel! Every day after school’s out, I have to wait here for the bus. Then I have to wait 30 minutes for the bus to take me home. Waiting stinks," Anna whined.

"I'd say it depends on what you're waiting for. I’ve seen people wait for all kinds of things. Sometimes they are wonderful things,” the woman replied. “In Brazil, I’ve seen three generations of a family walking together towards one of the largest and most beautiful churches you can imagine. The grandparents, using canes to brace themselves step by step. Their children holding them up, helping them make the long walk to the giant wooden doors of the building. But even in this wonderful moment someone was waiting; the grandchildren, playfully hitting each other on the shoulders, impatiently waiting by the church entrance,” the woman said with a smile on her face.

The smile remained for a moment, then slowly dropped. Anna thought the woman looked terribly sad again, just like when they first met.

The woman continued, looking straight ahead, “But I’ve seen people waiting for one terrible thing. The one you should remember.”

“Waiting for what? What could be more terrible than this?” Anna interrupted.

“I have seen people waiting for nothing. Waiting for nothing because they believed there was no bus coming. They believed there was nothing to wait for, that nothing in life would reach them, and so, they were in no rush be there.”