These two are unrelated:
There was laughter. A faint, tickling laughter coming from nearby—around the corner, perhaps, in the small shop nearby. It was a vibrant sound, intriguing the people passing by; a purely joyous expression uninterrupted by breaths or words or even other laughs; an exuberant fluctuating wave of rapid giggles and uninhibited gasps of delight. A grown woman’s laughter that sounded very much like a small child’s unabashed squeals of indulgence when he has discovered a wonderful new experience in the world. It vibrated gently through the air in the street, emitting a cloud of happiness that saturated the passersby, one by one, with the woman’s joy and pulled them (for just a moment) into the realm of exciting new experiences that they remembered from their own childhoods.
***
He sat, cross-armed, slouching, with eyes aware but barely open, scanning the crowd. Watching the people. He noticed a small girl running about, shrieking in twinges of delight. Smiling, she stomped around the food court with unabashed excitement, running into people and spreading small moments of joy to them. Anyone who saw her would stop and smile, their eyes gleaming, faces lighting up in response to the vigorous spirit of the youth before them. Then, the moment passed; they would continue walking and soon their faces would slump back into the dour expressions they held before their joyful encounter.
You need to write a book. It would rock my socks.
ReplyDelete-Amber
I'm still shopping around for a topic that would interest me long enough to be made in a book.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm gonna start working on short stories. Thanks for the encouragement.