decision of how to react,
most peculiarly long and loud, as though he desired…
Editing bits brought to your attention, now I can go on. This piece ends very well. I wonder how long the character watched him. Did he laugh and cry within minutes, or days? Knowing this would make the man more or less crazy to your readers. perhaps a sequel?

It took me a while to edit my sequel into ficly form for proper consumption…but to answer your questions: The protagonist had been sitting around for no more than a few hours, or extended lunch period perhaps (this i leave a bit open to your interpretation, the focus is more on..). the main character: Has been laughing / crying on and off for an unspecified long amount of time. He’s supposed to come across as a wanderer, most certainly perceived as quite crazy due to his unusual behavior.