Not Strong Enough

I cannot think, I can just feel.
This clogged mind has long tortured me since the summer after I graduated from high school, preparing to go to college.
After finishing the college entrance exame on July 2nd and 3rd, I thought I finally have a pressure-free long vacation waiting for me.

The Perfect Picture

The house was very quiet. A clock ticked. As I watched, the grandfather slowly leaned forward, curved his arms like parentheses around the head and feet of the little form, then pressed his face to the shroud and remained motionless.

In that hushed moment I recognized the makings of a prize-winning news photograph. I appraised the light, adjusted the lens setting and distance, licked a bulb in the flashgun, raised the camera and composed the scene in the viewfinder.

Every element of the picture was perfect: the grandfather in this plain work clothes, his white hair backlighted by sunshine, the child's form wrapped in the sheet, the atmosphere of the simple home suggested by black iron trivets and Wrold'sFair souvenir plates on the walls flanking the window. Outside, the police could be seen inspecting the fatal rear wheel of the pickup while the child's mother and father leaned in each other's arms.

-- James Alexander Thom