She was a little taller than waist level, bundled up in a pink coat, with a blue hat and white flower. She was standing in front of me, not exactly looking at me. I glanced down, smiled, and said, “Hi!”
Children usually make my day better. There is no guile, no sarcasm, no cruelty. Their smiles are genuine, their energy infectious.
She smiled, still not quite looking at me, not quite looking away. Then she started walking toward me, as her parents, waiting to pay for their Starbucks drinks, watched.
She hugged me. Confused, I patted her back as her father said, “She never gives me hugs!” and her mother, handing a card to the cashier said, “That’s just the way she is. She says hi to the people she wants to say hi to.”
The hug over, the little girl retreated, and then started to wander away, behind a pillar. Her mother grabbed the receipt and then quickly grabbed her daughter. The Starbucks drinks disappeared into a bag, and then the small family was gone.
2 comments:
I was wondering ... is the "too" in this sentence correct? I ask, not to point out an error, but rather in case I've stumbled upon a rule I hadn't noticed before.
“She says hi to the people she wants to say hi too.”
Ah, my copy editor, you have not just been exposed to a new rule, just a typo. It should be "to," not "too." "Too" means "also," or "additionally," which is not what I meant.
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