SOLSC #3 High School Mood Change

Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC)

Just a moment in time...

I’m outside with the preschool Big Cats, in our alley, which abuts a high school.  This alley is the closest thing we have to a playground.  (I wrote about this in an earlier post.)

The children are having a lot of fun, laughing, running, chasing, jumping, shouting.

Some are see-sawing on the Imagination Playground foam blocks. 
Others are running with hoola-hoops and jump ropes.

Still others trying to kick a ball, in an wild, improvised game of soccer in the alley. 

I am standing adjacent to the high school entrance, when a high schooler steps out.  I see immediately that he is furious. Truly, he stomps out, almost tearing himself out of the school, angrily clutching his backpack, fists clenched in fury. I am close enough to hear him curse, as he hurries down the sidewalk.

Ahhh, but, the tiny Big Cats are sprawled over the sidewalk, in his way...playing a child's game, bodies in motion, flopping onto one another, laughing uproariously, jump ropes tied onto hula hoops, wiggly, wobbly, with jumps onto the sidewalk, impeding his path.

They look up at him, grinning with joy.

I see the high schooler’s shoulders relax, and his gait slow. Did I see a smile cross his face? No, that would be an exaggeration. However, much of his tension has escaped. He is no longer furious.

How can you stay angry in the midst of such silliness?

Imagine a world where squealy young children descend upon households with teenagers at the snap of the fingers.

What a release!