Raging surf smashed tiny bits of sand into tinier bits. The cold overcast skies reflected my mood as I walked up the lonely beach, trying to find where I had gone wrong in our relationship.

Ahead, where the early fog met the sand, a kneeling figure faded into view. I ground the butt of my cigarette under my heel and lit another.

Nearing, the figure resolved into a man, unkempt, with a few strands of seaweed left by the receding tide clinging to his tattered trousers. Faint sobs crept in over the sound of the surf and wind.

“Why are you crying?”

The man looked up, his unwashed hair nearly as wild as the look in his eyes. “Don’t you see it?”

“I guess not.”

“I am crying because the universe is so vast and beautiful yet we are so small”

“Oh”, I replied and not caring, walked on.