Stolen Quote #4

This is an extension of the Stolen Quote idea. It's a stolen conversation.

Conversation Overheard at the Children's Museum

I was sitting on a little bench in the middle of a room, paying attention to my two boys 25% and reading my book 75%. This is why I love the Children's Museum, and particularly this certain spot in the museum: it's enclosed and there's a guard (Museum worker) posted at the door so your kids can't get out without you. Most useful: 11:00 a.m. is a busy time at the museum.

Anyways, there I was reading my book and minding my own. I noticed without really noticing a slightly pudgy man standing in front of me. A male voice from a few feet behind me called to him: "Hey, man!" The slightly pudgy man responded with a completely unenthusiastic, "Hey."

The man from behind me walked up to the man in front of me until they were both standing literally inches away from me. I spent a few seconds taking in these two men. The slightly pudgy man was wearing a T-shirt and knee-length khaki shorts, and he wasn't smiling. He didn't look unhappy, but he didn't look happy, either. He was the sort of bland man that you see 100 times a day in 100 different places. The man from behind me seemed in many ways to be the pudgy man's opposite: a thin man with a few day's worth of stubble on his face, and a clean diaper in the back pocket of his jeans. He seemed the sort of man to smile at a moment's notice, so long as there was cause.

It struck me that these men were familiar. Not because I knew them personally, but because they seemed to me like the type of men that would live in my neighborhood. 30-something's who take life as it comes. I imagined these two men joining the men on my street for a late afternoon beer on the front porch.

Their conversation continued. The Man From Behind asked, "You here for some family time?" Slightly Pudgy Man said, "No. I'm here with Mason." The Man From Behind, with a touch of confusion, said, "Mason?" Slightly Pudgy Man explained, "My oldest."

There was an awkward pause and then the Man From Behind said, "Oh." I was trying to figure out why Man From Behind, obviously well aquanted with Slightly Pudgy Man, wouldn't know about his oldest child. I didn't have much time to ponder this though, because Slightly Pudgy Man continued, "He's on a field trip with his pre-school." Another pause followed, this one not awkward, and then Man From Behind said, "It's nice to be laid off, isn't it? I could get used to it." Man From Behind, I could tell, truly was enjoying the perks of not working. Slightly Pudgy Man thought for a minute about being laid off, and the perks that Man From Behind was talking about. Then Slightly Pudgy Man responded, "I'd rather be golfing."

The conversation moved on, but I couldn't help giggling to myself about this interesting exchange. I immediately wrote it down so that I wouldn't forget.

Interesting side note to the story: Mason.

Elijah came up to me a few times and said, "Mom, that kid doesn't talk. He just screams." And it was true--Mason grunted and shouted, but he didn't talk. Mason was smiling and happy, but not in the usual kid way. His expressions looked hollow to me, and I couldn't quite figure out why. Moreover, Mason looked to be about 6 years old, even though his dad said he was in pre-school. After the conversation between these two men was done and after Man From Behind had moved on to another spot in the museum, Mason started throwing a fit. Screaming about nothing in particular, so far as I could tell. Slightly Pudgy Man rolled over a large stroller and without fanfare put Mason into the stroller. Mason still was throwing the fit. Then Slightly Pudgly Man rolled Mason away to a different spot and as soon as the stroller was rolling, Mason stopped screaming. Not just stopped screaming and sniffled about it. He stopped screaming and smiled at the world, staring at the ceiling, like he'd completely forgotten what he'd been screaming about just 2 seconds before.

The End