Another observation from my memoir class. This time the assignment we were to observe a child.
Her hair is very curly, and blondish. She is eating soup while precariously perched on a rectangular stool at the Café. She squirms, her pink sparkly shoes flashing. She lays down on the stool and stares at the floor. Her shirt has hearts inside hearts and is an explosion of reds, pinks, turquoise and pale yellow. Her turquoise shorts match. She kneels on the stool.
A woman is with her, she spoons some soup into the girl’s mouth. The girl makes a face and squirms some more. The woman is pregnant. I wonder if she is the mother, or a nanny.
The girl looks at me. I smile and make a face.
A man walks into the Café. He seems to know the girl. He notices the girl has a soup mustache. He mentions it to the girl and asks her, “you didn’t shave this morning?” She giggles.
She smiles at me. I smile back.
She sits sideways on the stool, her legs curled underneath, facing the front counter. Her hands are full of rippled potato chips. She shoves them into her mouth one-by-one. The lunch crowd has arrived. She looks at the people placing orders at the counter. She finishes the chips and lays down on the bench, starting at the floor.
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What is your favorite thing about kids?
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