this little boy i saw today made me wish i brought my camera to work. in all my days and days at tiffanys, he is my favorite, and i told his parents so. he was cherub faced and chubby bodied and he had blond hair and didn't care he didn't have any grasp on the english language yet cause he was happy and he wanted everyone to know! he squealed and laughed and babbled and everyone in the restaurant watched him because he was so adorable. i would walk up and look at him and he would stare blankly for a moment and his face would erupt into the most incredible baby smile. the entire time he was there he wiggled around in his high chair, smiling and laughing at everyone. a happy ball of baby fat, unbearably cute like a puppy. the most charismatic tiny boy i've ever seen.

and some day he will be seventeen. and he will drive his parents mad.

there were two boys with a family in the back. and little kids are so funny when they order because they are very specific about what they want and usually very polite about in a boisterous kind of way, because they get to speak for themselves and they want to get it right. and these boys were darkhaired and dark eyed and one of them (the older one who insisted on whipped cream-- in a DISH, not on top of his dollar pancakes) was named matthew and he was yelled at because he wouldn't sit still and kept trying to look out the window. the other boy was sitting closer to the outside of the booth.. i forget what i was doing, but i wasn't facing him.. and he reached out and touched my back. i turned around and asked him if he needed anything and he smiled his little boy smile at me.

i saw a girl sitting alone who couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen. long brown hair in pigtails. her eyebrows were unkempt in the same way mine were at that age. she ordered a diet coke and was quiet & nice. she was joined by her little brother (her dad had stopped in to let me know he hadn't just abandoned his kids there, he was going to be across the street). and in my mind he was two years younger than her, and he probably was. maybe three. they ate cheeseburgers and they got m&ms out of the quarter machine for the free ice cream i gave them. they leaned across the table and talked and he made her laugh and he was a goofy little boy. bright eyes & freckles & he smiled like my brother.

my favorite picture of my brother is one where he is very little. in a box and he is not much bigger than the stuffed animals who accompany him. my brother and i liked to play in boxes.