There they were walking down the sidewalk.
Neither could have been more than 16 years old.
At first glance, his tri-colored hair in shades of bottled red to jet black made me think he had been the sad victim of a "tar baby" game. I don't mean that to be snide. It was just truly my thought at first glance. My second glance told me that he was expressing his individuality and creative freedom. He was dressed in all black from head to toe. He had on a duo set of t-shirts, the outer shirt appearing to be about 3 sizes too small. His jeans, which desperately needed a belt, were clean and free of worn spots. He walked with determination and seemed to convey the idea that he knew the world was watching him as he sucked on the straw of his McDonalds drink cup.
She had blonde hair that hung past her shoulders and her shapely figure was accented by her black tube top and tan colored shorts. She was free of tatoos, hair accents, and piercings. Her only jewelry was a black lanyard around her neck with a single key on it...probably her house key. Her step had an energy and spring to it, singing the idea that the world was basically good and just waiting to be explored.
For all obvious purposes, they looked like their worlds and experiences were vastly different from each other. Yet, as they crossed the street in front of my car, I noticed something else entirely. Just a few feet from the curb, he took one last sip of his drink and then with a casual air.....tossed his cup into the grass. At that instant, she grabbed his arm in her hands, laid her head on his shoulder, and looked up into his face like he had the power to hang the moon and stars. He looked back down into her face with a smirk that said there was no place else in the world she ever needed to be but right there at his side...adoring him.
As I sat at that traffic light watching them turn and walk away from me, a few questions ran through my head.
What does she see in this young man that makes her feel so?
Has anyone in her life ever told her that shooting for the stars means looking and aiming above the trees?
Do her parents know where she is?
Is she as innocent as she appears?
Will they still know each other next week?
Who will they be next year?
Will they one day look back on this moment of time and blush?
It is amazing how much of the world you can see at a traffic light.
A very good post, Julie-Julie! I loved this! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteVery insightful, creative and interesting. It is amazing what you see, sitting at a traffic light. My High School English teacher had us look out the window of our classroom one time and write what we could see....beyond the obvious. That's when I began to write poetry and began to see through my creative eyes!
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