My van started fine this morning and was well warmed up for the ride to the library to return the audio books I borrowed weeks ago. Five miles from my home is the town library, a country store complete with gas pumps, a post office, a restaurant that is closed till May (every year it’s month later), the town offices, a few houses and that’s it. The library is adjacent to a field and located in a house that was built around two hundred years ago and the books are arranged on shelves against the wall as well as on free standing racks wherever space allows. I returned the tapes to the desk in the front. I walked to the room where the audio books were and started to spin the turnstile racks to find a couple of more tapes to go when I heard a child’s’ voice say:
“Hello”
My hand stopped the rack and I looked over to see a little blonde girl dressed in a green shirt and very baggy green corduroy pants and white shoes. She was smiling at me and I only later realized that the small amount of uncertainty she showed as she seemed to be waiting for my reaction to her greeting was well masked by her innocence and her outgoing nature. I of course had to return a smile and a hello. It’s quite rare that I see this level of trust by one so young to a total stranger.
Hello, as it turns out was little 15 month old Claire’s first and only word and she says it well. She reiterated the greeting several times during my stay and stood motionless in the doorway while I picked out a few new tapes. Her little hands hanging down around the pockets of her corduroys . Tiny little white shoes were also motionless. With my tapes in hand I walked her to the children’s section where her mom, the librarian was stocking the shelves with returned books. Judging by her careful steps she had not been long on the walking scene either. I thought how nice it was for her to be in this peaceful environment surrounded by the silence of the books and serenaded by the creaking pine floors. I thought that if all goes well for her it would give her an extra edge over and above the one I felt that she had already been given in having such a good nature.
Upon checking out the new tapes at the desk Claire walked up to me with a Sesame Street book in her outstretched arms. I knelt down beside her, opened to page one and began to read it to her. She alternated between looking at the pages and at me.
After that it seemed little Claire was off to grab another book so I took my leave and slipped out the door with my tapes.
And little Claire?
Well, she didn’t do too badly; she got an audio book of sorts too as read by the_poemster.
But she also taught me something today. That I can still recognize and appreciate the innocence that overflowed from her and have the good sense to sit and let it wash over me. That as I walked into the library admiring the setting of the field of pure white snow I also was fortunate to be touched by the purity in her little heart.
Thanks Little One
“Hello”
My hand stopped the rack and I looked over to see a little blonde girl dressed in a green shirt and very baggy green corduroy pants and white shoes. She was smiling at me and I only later realized that the small amount of uncertainty she showed as she seemed to be waiting for my reaction to her greeting was well masked by her innocence and her outgoing nature. I of course had to return a smile and a hello. It’s quite rare that I see this level of trust by one so young to a total stranger.
Hello, as it turns out was little 15 month old Claire’s first and only word and she says it well. She reiterated the greeting several times during my stay and stood motionless in the doorway while I picked out a few new tapes. Her little hands hanging down around the pockets of her corduroys . Tiny little white shoes were also motionless. With my tapes in hand I walked her to the children’s section where her mom, the librarian was stocking the shelves with returned books. Judging by her careful steps she had not been long on the walking scene either. I thought how nice it was for her to be in this peaceful environment surrounded by the silence of the books and serenaded by the creaking pine floors. I thought that if all goes well for her it would give her an extra edge over and above the one I felt that she had already been given in having such a good nature.
Upon checking out the new tapes at the desk Claire walked up to me with a Sesame Street book in her outstretched arms. I knelt down beside her, opened to page one and began to read it to her. She alternated between looking at the pages and at me.
After that it seemed little Claire was off to grab another book so I took my leave and slipped out the door with my tapes.
And little Claire?
Well, she didn’t do too badly; she got an audio book of sorts too as read by the_poemster.
But she also taught me something today. That I can still recognize and appreciate the innocence that overflowed from her and have the good sense to sit and let it wash over me. That as I walked into the library admiring the setting of the field of pure white snow I also was fortunate to be touched by the purity in her little heart.
Thanks Little One
2 Comments:
Excellent! And I don't (just) mean the time spent with Claire.
After two attempts last week to return those tapes, both thwarted by a non-starting van and short library hours, I finally was able to get back there. It was a rather trying weekend for me laden with vehicle problems and work deadlines and snowstorms (I loved the snowstorm) but all in all it worked out really well. I read to both my kids and I have become a better narrator both by reading aloud alot and by listening to novels on tape.
It was a nice little happening this event and I wanted to impart the feeling it gave to me.....to you. I envy the ability good writers have to tell story in a way that compels a reader to first read and then feel what it is they are to feel. My way of learning, I've expressed before, is by trying (and sometimes failing)and doing and by hanging out with people like the two of you.
Thanks to both you.........for everything. Everything since the first day we met in June 2004.
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