How to Raise an Elephant (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #21)

by Alexander McCall Smith

“We have just seen something very…” He struggled to find the right word. At his side, Fanwell ventured, “Very unbelievable.” Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni nodded. “Yes, indeed. Very unbelievable—so unbelievable as to be…” Once more he floundered. “So unbelievable that we cannot believe it,” suggested Fanwell.

She had no idea who the woman was, but she felt a sudden surge of feeling for her—a feeling of sympathy so intense that it surprised her. She was just a stranger—a woman whom she had never seen before and would never see again. All she had to do was to continue with her journey, to turn the corner ahead, and it would be as if the other woman had ceased to exist. That was what you could do with most people you encountered in this life: you just continued to do what you were already doing and you passed them by, because you simply could not stop at every moment and think: This is the only time I’m going to see this person on this earth and…You could not do that because you did not have enough time.