Beautiful Boys... just Beautiful
“I’m the only one in my family who's never been in an ambulance.”… Really? Yup… all his, who really knows how many, brothers and sisters had been hurt, either had accidents or done one dumb thing or another that had ‘em whisked off to emerge. Hunter’s one brother gave him no end of laughter, he slipped and cut his butt on the soap thingy in the shower. His mom corrected Hunter’s assertion by pointing out that the one who cut his butt, was fixed up right there outside their place over on Compton, right in the ambulance outside their door, it never had to go anywhere… splitting but hairs as far as Hunter and I were concerned.
Boys n' their moms… The moms crazily fretting the choice they’ve made to waste a bit extra on cab fare to make the hectic bits n’ pieces of their day fit together, the boys… cool, I’m in a cab! “What’s your name?” “I bet you’re… what 8, 9, 10?” ...and I know enough to guess higher with the boys. Which one of them doesn’t want the taxi driver to think he’s older… regardless as there’s really little difference between a 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 year old little video gaming addicted Minecrafter… Boys are a funny n’ jumpy little bunch in the back of my CAR… and it helps my knowing the other questions they want to be asked, and the ones that’ll drive their moms crazily… easy enough, the same questions.
Yesterday I picked up Dawson on Stephen. He’d missed his bus… well. let's be clear, his mother missed it. She lifted him out of his chair and into the back seat of the CAR. “The seat part comes off like normal” …but the back is different. As she showed me how to disassemble the contraption so that it could be folded and stowed in the trunk, it dawned on my last shift of the week’s and surprising busy Monday morning's mind that Dawson and I would be off to school together on our ownsome… awesome. "...would you like me to call you when I get him there?"
Dawson mumbled loudly about some chocolate mouse and Snoopy flying a plane, or something… oh… “…did you see the Santa Parade on Saturday?” Ya! “They had… this and this and that and that and that and…” Bumpity bumpily… “Why do you keep asking me where I live?” “No you asked ME where I lived”… oh(?)… “I like when you say bumpity bumpily” So I said it, well kind of sang it ove n' over again as I hit every pothole, bump, rut n' ridge in the road I could find on the way off to Dawson's school… up in the Heights. Dawson and I were having such a wonderful little wee of a time I made a wrong turn, turned around and hit the meter off early…
I unpacked Dawson, taking his chair from the trunk and re-assembling it just as his young mother had shown me. I lifted him into it, with, what a wonderful feeling to have a little boy in my arms once again… After putting his feet n’ the foot holder thingies and buckling up his seat belt, I noticed there wasn’t another sole in sight at the school to hand awesome Dawson off to… except for another little boy headed, head down I guess a bit late, near the doors. “Can I bring him in here?” sure… “Do you know Dawson?” Ya… I’ve seen him around… we went into the school, I grabbed the taxi chit from the secretary as some busy young teacher whisked little Dawson away before giving me one final chance to say… bumpity, bumpily…
Later that day, I got a call to deliver Kingston’s young maestro, to the railways station, stopping for, of all things an extra clothes hanger that had almost ruined his day… He was in a mad hurry but we had more than enough time to review the minutia of Kingston’s new music hall, and go over what it’s like to be a symphony conductor in a littler place like Kingston …”sorry for the bumpily, bumpities” I said, rather sang to our town’s newest young maestro, almost without thinking as we bounced over the level crossing they’re currently working around n’ soon over, over up on John Counter n' Portsmouth… Another very pleasant cab ride… calming an anxious fare with my oh so superior superhero like driving... say the 20th or so of almost 30 this day… bumpily bumpity… thinking… if this is all I get… boys today… if this is all I get… then I’ll take it... bumpily if not beautifully.