I Would Be Kidding You

I don't know if he'll ever run. If he does it will be his own idea. I've seen fathers and mothers running hard with their young kids. No, if he runs it will be his decision and not mine.

But I would be kidding you if I said that it didn't make me happy when he went down the street to a friends house today and he took off running as soon as he was out the door.

I don't know if he'll ever write software. He hasn't been interested in the past. I showed him Logo once. He dabbled in Hypercard. But my introduction to HTML a year or so ago pretty much flopped.

But I would be kidding you if I said that it didn't make me happy when he sprang to attention tonite when he asked a question (about my browser bookmarks) and I drew a picture on paper, saying, This is how the Internet works.

His eyes lit up. He grabbed a chair. And he pulled it up so he could see. He asked about uploading and bandwidth. And he watched me draw little stick figures and high-capacity pipes and co-location facilities and web servers and browsers. And he listened to what I said.

Maybe we got a runner and a coder, here. I would be kidding you if I told you that didn't tickle me pink.

10:50:32 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []  

Childs Pay

Fingers on a lone guitar.

A boy in crew-cut hair takes another dish from the top of the pile. A girl in a pink dress watches the floor of a hotel hallway as she vacuums the carpet. Bottles roll by another girl, green, clear, brown. She slowly turns her head and breathes a heavy sigh.

Licks on a single drum join the guitar.

In a back alley, a boy in overalls hops off the back of a garbage truck to grab another bag.

An SUV rolls by at the end of the street.

A boy in dreadlocks and leather gloves works recycled tires on a machine.

The guitar holds. The drum riffs. A cymbal rings.

A thumb and finger strum a few beats and then resume.

And a girl with her hair pulled back passes groceries one by one over the scanner.

The guitar holds its final note and fades.

---
Childs Pay by Charlie Fisher of Denver, CO
Final Winner of the MoveOn.org BushIn30Seconds contest.

Note: The original entry was composed on 12 January 2004. It was lost. This is a repost of the same entry.

6:10:15 PM   permalink: []   feedback:   comments: []