Joshua was worried and he didn’t like the
feeling. He was normally a very calm and stable sort of person, always aware of
what was going on and what was expected of him, but not today.
Everything
had been fine until he got on the bus to go home; he’d sat down next to a
little old lady when it happened. He would normally introduce himself to his
seat partner, something he’d done now for almost all his life, as he hated the
thought of not talking, of missing the opportunity to meet someone new and make
his life more interesting.
She
turned to say something back and stopped, not just gone back to looking out of
the window or reading the magazine, but actually stopped, frozen mid
conversation. Joshua had politely waited for a moment, in case it was a medical
condition she suffered from, before he’d spoken again.
It
was then he noticed everyone else had stopped, the bus had stopped, even a bird
flying past the window outside had stopped in mid air. He reached passed the
lady and tapped the window, hoping that the bird would startle and move again,
but it didn’t, so after a moment or two he picked up his bag and made his way
downstairs.
The
first problem he had was getting passed the woman with the shopping, she stood
in the aisle before the exit and Joshua had to bend and squeeze himself under
her arm in order to get to the door, and what little of her he did touch felt
solid and cold but he was eventually through and pulling the door open before
climbing down onto the road outside, before closing the door again behind him.
He
judged it was a good three miles to his home, but at least there would be
enough light to see by and as he walked he marvelled at the frozen world, all
those people stopped in mid heartbeat and the silence was terrifying.
There
where people arguing, their faces contorted and frozen in anger, others
laughing, but the majority seemed to look sad, they walked down the road with
their eyes on the floor, not even aware of the people they passed, the people
that could have affected their lives for the better, and it made Joshua feel
sad for them to have missed the opportunity.
The
world was filled with so much beauty, so much wonder if only people would take
the time to look. All it would take was each person to stop and do something
different, to stop following the normal route of their lives, to just realise
that they have but one life to live and to waste it would be a shame.
He
stopped about a mile from home and put his bags down on the floor before
crossing the road. On the other side he could see a young boy frozen between
two cars, he was just about to step out into the path of a bus that he was to
busy to see.
With
considerable effort Joshua managed to turn the lad slightly so he would walk
into the stationary car, giving him a bruised knee was better that the other
option anyway, Joshua reasoned, and you never know, that kid could invent
something wonderful now and change the world, now that he would remain in it.
The
little things, they were all Joshua lived for, those little things that
everyone else missed, and even now in this frozen landscape, he could still see
the beauty around him, more so even. He always took time for things like this,
and he found himself actually enjoying the experience.
He
enjoyed the bigger picture view as well, it wasn’t just the little things but
the effect they had on others, the domino effect almost. He stopped to move a
bird from under the claws of a cat that had managed to move up on it, he’d even
stopped a mans car keys from falling down a drain, and for the hell of it, he swapped
the coin half way into a coin toss, wishing he could see the child’s face as
his 10p turned into a pound.
Once
home, he threw his bag onto the sofa before walking over the grandfather clock
that stood in pride of place in the middle of the room. He chastised himself
for forgetting to reset the weights, but smiled as the clock ticked again and
the world continued outside, but in the end though, at least no one would know
if he forgot.
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