The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
“Of course, they aren’t always funny.”
Mom, Dad, two sons and Grandpa are waiting for their flight. They are two hours early as Grandpa apparently requested. Grandpa reads his “New Yorker” magazine calmly. The boys writhe, demonstrating boredom, sighing loudly. One boy is mollified with Mom’s cell phone. The other moves to sit by Grandpa, though there is little hope of getting a gadget out of him. Instead, the old man asks if the boy would like to see the cartoons. Grandpa’s white hedge-like eyebrows gather as he hunts for one. He chuckles to himself and then reads the caption to the boy, holding out the illustration for the child’s consideration. After reading it aloud, he chuckles again before noting the lack of response from the seven-year-old, so he tries to explain it. As usual in clarifying a joke, things take a turn for the worse. The cartoon seems stale, even to Grandpa, so he shrugs, “Of course, they aren’t always funny.” He goes back to the articles and the boy turns to look at the airplanes. A few minutes later, Grandpa reaches out to pat the boy on the back, and the boy curls in close to show he did understand.
–Denver International Airport. Colorado.
The Nice Thing About Strangers 
“Mollified”. GREAT word!
Loved the story too, of course Paige. It’s just that outside of myself I haven’t heard anyone else use “mollified” recently. Maybe I need to get out more. š
Lol, Jeff, well, I suppose we’re kindred spirits in this respect. I’ve been listening to Bishop Barron’s podcasts and remembering the vocabulary I once loved, but so often skip in favor of something else. Back to the GRE words, when they suit! š
Paige