Big little boy
by Janani AMARASEKARA
 It
was a busy Monday morning. Because of the chaos at home, I was late and
by the time, I came to the halt the rush hour has begun, and had no
option but to get into the first bus, which was crowded with hardly any
space to stand or a place to hold. However, still I managed to stay
close to the door, to get the cool breeze, as I did not want to sweat
early in the morning. This bus was a one-door, which looked somewhat
like a loaf of bread. So, no wonder it had no space.
Despite the crowd, a tiny little boy who was sitting in the front
seat caught my attention. Next to him was a woman whom I thought was his
mother. However, after two halts he was busy looking around the bus with
an expression "Oh! My destination has arrived, can I get down?" When I
looked at the direction where he was looking, I saw a female face with
features very much similar to this boy, and she was gesturing, "Ya, get
down till I come." I realized that was his mother. Despite the crowd, he
got down sooner and safer and stood near the pavement. Keeping his hands
on his hip, he was waiting for his mother. I am sure he must have been
thinking 'Oh my God what makes her late?' He acted like a grown up.
However, he was a darling little boy. He was small, and was in a school
uniform with a little tie. He was tanned and about six years. There was
something about him made me look and look again.
Few days later, on a rainy day once again he was there in the bus I
got onto. He was sitting on his mother's lap. As I settled on a seat
that was not far from him, he kept on looking at me and then got busy
looking outside. After a halt, the woman who was sitting next to the
mother and son, left.
Then he pushed his mother to the empty seat and sat like a king at
the other end. He fascinated me. I decided to write about him. While I
got busy constructing this story in my mind, I heard music and saw all
the passengers looking around. To discover, it was this young boy. As
the bus got less crowded, the song was prominent. Soon, we reached our
final destination. I was still busy thinking of the story and I forgot
that I need to hold my long skirt up while getting down. The moment I
remembered that, it was too late. I felt someone was already stepping on
it. I looked back to frown. On top of the steps stood this boy on the
edge of my skirt, with a confused face. I managed to pull my skirt
gently, without a word! |
