Joy

“Hello!” A child’s voice and giggles came from the front yard of the house he was passing. He turned to see a girl standing tall amongst a gaggle of kids, her skinny legs sticking out of two pink rollerblades, making her seem like she was just arms and legs. He replied, “Salamatsingarby!” and continued on. Some of the kids scooted down the street after him, waving and shouting “Bye-bye, bye-bye!” He smiled, put his headphones back on and kept walking, taking a turn at the next block. The ground was uneven ruts of dirt, formed by car tires and runoff from infrequent, yet steady rains. Another crowd of children waited at the end of the block, playing with an empty plastic beer bottle in the dust. “I can count to twelve!” a boy beamed – a smile wider than his face, showing his proud white front teeth and the ones decaying behind – and then proceeded to show him. He tried teaching the boy “thirteen” but he just laughed and skipped a short distance away. Turning, he noticed the skinny girl in rollerblades and her friend had followed him all the way here. “Heck, if she came a whole block wearing those, I think she earned a conversation.” He laughed and walked over.