Noah stops when Krieg does, turning to look back at him, concerned but waiting for Krieg to work through whatever has him troubled.

Given a look at him, it isn’t hard to figure that he’s probably been significantly shortchanged on kindness in his life. Noah doesn’t know anything about Krieg’s world. Maybe it’s common there. But what happened to Adam had also been common in the trailer park, no doubt, and that didn’t make what happened to him okay.

He has to take a moment again to parse Krieg’s words, but he’s thinking he’s getting better at it. You just have to… figure if it’s a metaphor, or ignore some of the others that spill out with the word salad surrounding what he’s trying to say. It’s sad, Noah thinks, that kindness is questioned. It implies that apathy or cruelty would have been more expected from a stranger.

So Noah shrugs. Why is anyone kind to strangers?

“Because you’re letting me be, I guess.”