Brief encounters do seem to be accidental, but I also think that they are part of a plan that nobody understands. Like in the short story "Pen of My Aunt," the man just shows up at her door and she seems to know what to do about it. All the lies just come to her, and that encounter changed him and her for the rest of their lives. She probably saved his life by giving him the names of safehouses down the road a ways.Brief encounters can break down barriers not only between people, but also between people and animals. Maude Martha shows this when she finally traps the mouse in the trap. They seem to be communicating to each other about who won and what to do about it. She sees how the mouse is in acceptance about being caught, and the mouse is supposed to be her enemy. She then feels dirty in the fact that it is helpless and decides to let it go. That shows that a brief encounter like that broke down the wall between Maude Martha and the mouse.There do lie hidden qualities in each of us that a brief encounter will bring out and show to the world. The story that proves this is "The Grains of Paradise." I picked this because Pete Hoyle is in a pepper-eating contest with the Indians and they have all their money on the table that they probably own. Pete knows that he can beat the Indian and also realizes that if they loose, they will become even lower in the town. He gives up when he almost won and this shows that he has compassion for the people who are less fortunate than he is.A brief encounter can change somebody's life forever. This is true in the short story "The Good Samaritan." In this story there is a man who got severely beat and all his money got stolen. Many people walk by the beaten man but don't even glance in his direction. But one person comes to his aid and takes him to an inn. There he gets the man a room and tells the clerk to take care of him and he will be back to pick up the bill. This changed the be...
