I thought, somewhere deep beneath, as the babies in their carriages slipped by. One particularly weird looking baby looked at me with suspicion. Imagine my exasperation! All around me, evidence of parents programming their deep prejudices into these squinting boxes. And then they expect me to teach them! The baby looked at me. I looked at her. Did she sense below my cynicism a bit of fear? That all the babies will rise up and subsume me with their bright futurity? I cautiously kept looking. Why? I don't know. But her look suddenly turned into a smile and not a dumb baby smile but a smile of compassion. Or maybe just a baby smile, not yet saddened. Or maybe a smile that showed a knowledge of time, far more profound than my own, as she slipped by (because the smile came at the last possible moment, to the extent that she had to turn her head), and the details of her face disappeared in the sun light.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXIn any case, this encounter put me in the mind to be less guarded when a more ambulatory little girl came up to my side and started looking at the space to my right.
XXXXXXX"What are you looking at?"
XXXXXXXShe realized she wasn't looking at anything, so picked up a little piece of dirt so as to look purposeful. She stood before a chess board design--I think maybe both of us may have noticed this at once and she started pouring pieces of dirt around the squares.
XXXXXXX"You're doing some magic?"
XXXXXXXShe nodded her head in assent.
XXXXXXXI let her continue her magic.
XXXXXXX"What kind of book is that?" What a clever, courageous girl!
XXXXXXXI am reading Breton's Nadja.
XXXXXXX"It's a kind of magic book." She takes it. Drops it, not confident that I'm actually handing it to her. Opens it to a page with a picture on it. Her thuggish parents yell. She is hesitant to go. How the young are punished for their openness to the world! My only hope is that one day she'll see the orange and white cover in a bookstore, and realize it was the magic book, and it will become one for her.
4 comments:
I really enjoyed reading this post! Oh the pure innocents and openness of children!
I really enjoyed your post....but as a great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother.....don't you know you aren't suppose to talk to strangers (even if they are innocent looking little girls with little treasures of dirt) when at the park?
It's amazing to me that this girl was so curious. You dont often get to see that because kids are taught so often to not reach out to others cause they might snatch them, lol.
It's like thier imaginations have to be smooshed to protect them from danger.
Bravo for sparking her interest and making a good impression that may spark her curiosity later at a book store.
I'm also afraid of babies! You're lucky they smile at you! Children are terrified of me!
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