not in use

While walking to the market I saw an older lady with a full shopping bag waiting at a bus stop, from my vantage point I could see the neon orange hood that had been placed over the bus stop sign THIS BUS STOP IS NOT IN USE. Assuming that the lady had seen the sign and was waiting for someone to come out of the nearby shop I almost walked past her. When level with her I asked if she was waiting for the bus, she said yes, so pointing up I showed her the sign. The lady was crestfallen, she had a walking stick and I felt very sorry for her as she began to walk to the next stop some distance away. She said ‘oh, this is not good for me’. How long had she been standing there? How many people had walked past making the same assumption I toyed with? A small thing incident, a chance to help another and a wish that I could have whisked her up and taken her to her destination.