Re: The child and the old man

[LISA CRUMRINE <lcrum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bernard JOLY wrote:
>
> On the village green, a group of children is playing football just after
> school. They have piled up their school bags against a wall, and use their
> jackets as goals : the eldest kick around the small ones who shout here and
> there, and the girls remain chattering apart. The plane-trees shadow turns and
> merely lengthens.
>
> Sitting on an old stone bench, an old man gazes at the landscape, without
> uttering a word. He has slow clumsy gestures, but he is not motionless. One
> can even see his foot moving to and fro, and the owner brings it back under
> the bench, with the same gesture of his arm.
>
> The player shooted, pulled his arms up as victory, and the goalkeeper ran
> after the lost ball, which rolled towards the bench and came to a stop before
> the old man. The child stopped there waiting, half through shyness, half
> through curiosity. The man tried to bend down, but his hand stopped before it
> could reach its goal, and set up trembling. He looked up towards the child, a
> faint smile vanishing on his wrinkled face.
>
> "I almost fell down, boy !"
>
> His voice sounded muffled, a bit thick. The child did not understand quite
> well : he had never before seen an adult like this old man. Maybe he is sick ?
>
> "Are you sick, Sir ?"
>
> "It¹s allright boy, I¹m OK..."
bernard,  I like this story, kind of a bummer tho.  lisa