The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
Concerto for Cello and Springs
An infant boy in red-footed-pajamas races down the moving sidewalk. His curly locks bounce as he bounds. Bystanders cringe as he nears the end, his father breaking into a sprint to swoop him up or console him quickly, depending on the outcome. But the boy prances upright off the sidewalk and rushes on past the newsstand, sliding on the slip-proof bottoms of his pajama’d feet. He moves happily along on the slick stone floor–the moving sidewalk a race, and this the ice skating portion of his wait for the family flight.
He skates past a man in a black bowler hat playing a cello. The boy’s laugh lulls people more effectively than the centuries-old serenade. The man with the cello keeps his head down, tries closing his eyes to play, but the roaming boy, the growing laughter keeps him peeking from under his brim at the case full of change on the floor at his feet.
–Portland, Oregon. PDX.
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
Beautiful post!!
Sweet – and what a peculiar sign! 🙂
Reblogged this on The Nice Thing About Strangers.
In Germany, you wont find a sign with a child and a man anymore as in the 60s or 70s – too much bad humans…
🙂 I took this shot in Sweden. I understand how things may have changed. How sad!
Clever and moving post.
Paige, does the “M” in your twitter handle stand for Midas?? It should because everything you write is golden. I like the new look of your blog. Sorry it took so long for me to reply to you, but I’ve been off line for the past month and just read your tweet. On this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for your stories…thanks for doing what you do!
Thank you, Walt! What a kind compliment. 🙂 I hope the offline time was refreshing. I think I’d like to do the same, if I wouldn’t also need a leave of absence from work. And the blog. I’d never manage.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I did not miss the twitter or facebook as much as I thought I would. I did miss out on knowing what was happening in the world, as I don’t watch tv news. It is strange though that I managed to get more followers and retweets while I was offline than when i’m online! What are they trying to tell me, Paige?!?!
Hmm, interesting! A watched pot never boils, perhaps? 🙂