he had this thing this . . . interruption
that tapped his cheek as his niece did while
she sat in his lap
hed fall into deep conversation
with his brothers sisters their spouses and friends and feeling ignored she turned
in his lap faced him and then shed reach up and ever-so-gently tap tap
tap his cheek
Ohmygoodness Sorry sweetheart I havent forgotten you You have
been so very patient
he excused himself from the
conversation
his family and friends seemed always
to be put out when he acknowledged her used offended eyes
Aw comon Who are the adults here
Check where were atOkay Ill checked where were at and well pick it up later
later when he did because they never did they said it was water
under the bridge they werent interested in discussing it furthur
No he pointed to his head tapped
his temple Its right here its not sluffed off down a river Ill remind you if you prefer
We dont
one always said for the rest
of them
Okay
it was only one of the reasons why he
preferred talking to children than adults
adults forgot how to play
apparently they were entitled
he never grasped their sense of
entitlement over childrenHell their
children but he knew there had always
existed perpetuated by his parents their parents that selfish premise that
children should be seen not heard that somehow smaller human beings had nothing
worthwhile or of interest to say and share
perhaps forgetting that they were just larger scaled beings and their
bigness alone wasnt sufficient to overwhelm a childs imagination thoughts interpretations
or frankly their worthiness
in his youth he was consistently
overrode quieted by adults
except
in the company of older wiser
adults who – for the most part – werent his relatives
he learned and followed their
lead he got down as they did so when they spoke with him they were at his height
and equality
why wouldnt what a child said be
interesting given half a chance these
pint-size people had very interesting perceptions even if they lacked the words
to properly express them but an engaged adult
could offer words suggest
possibilities help them wrangle what
they wanted to share
their acuity astounded and
perplexed him
Tabula rasaOh horseshit Theyre scribbled all over
he sought their company because
he preferred their utter originality lack of indoctrination and pedagogy
hed met two savants in his life
and neither was taller than his bellybutton
this thing this interruption tapping
at his cheek always sought his attention
and pulled him away from whatever it was that he was doing
and always to
his pleasure discomfort and amusement
he was reading two books going
back and forth between them when he tired of he entertained the other and since
their genera was similar his back and forth was subtle
not that it always was
he often read books side by side
that were disparate and the leap from one to the other was jarring but invigorating
the book he wasnt reading lay
open a bookmarker rested between its pages in case a breeze lapped it and
turned it from where he stopped
but what captured his
attention interrupted him out of the corner of his eye he saw an o was
filled in a dot though immaterial and looking closer he recognised that inside
the o something wiggled moved
he bookmarked the book he was
reading to take this interruption
the smallest spider he ever laid eyes
on crept out of the o
he tapped his fingernail on the
page behind it and it crouched tapping a
second time it scurried then stopped reared around and charged
it pulled up short of his
tapping crouched again then deftly spun and beat a hasty retreat
across the lettered page
One-onethousand two-onethousand
three-onethousand four touch football hed
be coming across the line of scrimmage
the spider continued to flee
it was the teeniest tiniest
spider he ever laid eyes on
fit inside an o
perhaps his teeniest tiniest
interruption ever
making the edge of the page it
seemed to slide down the pages hed read and making the white painted porch
railing exposed it sought refuge under a broken edge the shell of a paint
blister
he tried to image that
optick(sometimes his interruptions ran roughshod over each other)
a hummingbird rushed up into his
face
he could feel the fan of its
wings on his cheek
it reminded him of the sonorous
hum the early afternoon tinged by bees working the rosemary blossoms he wondered where their wild hive was hidden
Ah he sighed My glorious interruptions
imagined and made
1234 234
actually 1434, Saturday, 1 10.
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