October 24, 2007
While running around the lake this morning I saw a bunch of geese which reminded of an entry I made in my journal some time ago.
I wrote about an old lady who lives in our neighborhood.
The old lady is mean. Real mean. I saw her yell and swat a little kid with a broom the other day because he went to get his ball in her yard. The kid was petrified. You should have seen his eyes.
She deflates the tires of people who park their cars outside her house.
The old lady is mean. Real mean. She complains to the police if someone in the neighborhood has a party that continues after 8:30 at night.
The old lady is mean. Real mean. She probably has posters of Scrooge (in his pre-nice era) and Mean Mr. Mustard, hanging in her house.
I don’t think she has smiled since we won World War Two.
Not until today.
I saw her down at the park on Town Lake walking her mean little dog this morning. (Her dog growls and snaps at everyone and everything in sight. Even unsuspecting bushes that vaguely resemble people.)
This morning the mean old lady was scowling at some kids who were feeding the local gaggle of geese with breadcrumbs.
Suddenly one of the geese chased the group of kids who ran off giggling excitedly. One of the kids was rather slow and the goose managed to nip him on the backside. The kid shrieked and burst into the most delightful, hearty laugh as he ran into his mum’s arms.
It was so cute that everyone around found themselves smiling.
Even the mean old lady.
Granted, it was only a 1.7 second smile that was framed by a scowl that could probably crack open an oyster at twenty paces.
Never the less it was a smile.
And I saw it.
I hope and pray she gets to enjoy a few more of those this holiday season.
Posted by trevor at October 24, 2007 01:03 PM