Stillness: A Vignette
Stillness. I stroll past the old used bookstore when nothing happens. What I mean to say is that everything—and everyone—is frozen. From the hands on the town hall clock, to the pink poodle leaping after a fly, all is suspended in motion.
Some might faint at such an odd event. Not I!
“What if…” I think, spying a couple of frozen tourists looking at a map. He is tense, a yell of exasperation at his partner hanging in the air. An over-sized camera is hanging from around her neck. I relieve her of that yoke for a moment, snapping a selfie before returning said yoke to its previous occupation.
I laugh like a maniac as I imagine their confusion upon reviewing their pictures.
There sits a beggar on the street corner, his change cup extended in his work-beaten hands. I pick a twenty from my wallet and tuck it under hat before securing the brim down around his eyes.
On to more mischief!
Two women are drinking together in the park. The blonde has a coffee, the brunette a tall frozen lemonade. Their lips are both poised to take a sip from their separate vessels. I remove the cups from their hands, with some difficulty, and perform a swap: Where once was a steaming cup, now is a freezing one. And vice versa.
Beyond them, not far away…
A time-frozen child is losing her balloon. I grab the string and secure it around her wrist before moving on. That’s when I spy an elderly woman about to be hit by a dump truck. At first I panic, but needlessly. Everything is still, after all, inanimate. That bird of a woman is a tiny thing, all small bones, so I lift her with ease and carry to the safety of the sidewalk.
I’ve made full circle of it and have just arrived back at the bookstore. At once everything returns to the reality of time. It’s tempting to see the reactions to my mischief, but I resist, content in the fact that I had some fun and perhaps had done some good as well.
But what is this? My fingers are curled around a note, which hadn’t been there but a split second ago. It says “SMILE.” And I do…at the gentleman in white, who had not been there but a moment before.
__A slightly edited piece, child of the following writing prompt: What would you do if Time and everyone and everything in it froze...except for you?
Some might faint at such an odd event. Not I!
“What if…” I think, spying a couple of frozen tourists looking at a map. He is tense, a yell of exasperation at his partner hanging in the air. An over-sized camera is hanging from around her neck. I relieve her of that yoke for a moment, snapping a selfie before returning said yoke to its previous occupation.
I laugh like a maniac as I imagine their confusion upon reviewing their pictures.
There sits a beggar on the street corner, his change cup extended in his work-beaten hands. I pick a twenty from my wallet and tuck it under hat before securing the brim down around his eyes.
On to more mischief!
Two women are drinking together in the park. The blonde has a coffee, the brunette a tall frozen lemonade. Their lips are both poised to take a sip from their separate vessels. I remove the cups from their hands, with some difficulty, and perform a swap: Where once was a steaming cup, now is a freezing one. And vice versa.
Beyond them, not far away…
A time-frozen child is losing her balloon. I grab the string and secure it around her wrist before moving on. That’s when I spy an elderly woman about to be hit by a dump truck. At first I panic, but needlessly. Everything is still, after all, inanimate. That bird of a woman is a tiny thing, all small bones, so I lift her with ease and carry to the safety of the sidewalk.
I’ve made full circle of it and have just arrived back at the bookstore. At once everything returns to the reality of time. It’s tempting to see the reactions to my mischief, but I resist, content in the fact that I had some fun and perhaps had done some good as well.
But what is this? My fingers are curled around a note, which hadn’t been there but a split second ago. It says “SMILE.” And I do…at the gentleman in white, who had not been there but a moment before.
__A slightly edited piece, child of the following writing prompt: What would you do if Time and everyone and everything in it froze...except for you?
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