Bags

Set in Northern Ireland during the troubles of recent memory, two women, one Protestant and one Catholic, sit down in the outdoor section of a bakery shop. The women don't know each other and sit separately, enjoying a peaceful snack, when a maddeningly illogical and demanding waitress, reflective of the unsettling and maddening atmosphere of the times, forces them to share a table. They begin to discuss the bakery and find they have much in common. They are drawn to speak of their loneliness and, eventually, come together tentatively in what promises to be a friendship. Yet, when the Catholic woman leaves the table for a few minutes without taking her shopping bag with her, the old fears surface, and the waitress and the Protestant woman begin to suspect there might be a bomb in the woman's left-behind bag. Upon her return, the woman realizes the others' suspicions, and, hurt by their mistrust, leaves.