The class was already in downward
facing dog when Lisa found them at the opposite end of the Public Gardens from
where they had met last time. She unrolled her mat next to Stephanie and got
centered just in time to start the sun salutation sequence. After the first two
rounds, she relaxed into the rhythm of the changing poses and her brain shut
out everything but Eric’s voice calling out the pattern.
At the end of the class, during
savasana, she wished she could carry the same calm and focus with her all the
time. Some of the other students seemed to have that kind of graceful yogi-ness
about them, but as soon as she was back in the car, it was rush rush rush to
the next thing. Usually behind deadline.
Since she had parked closer to
the other end, she said goodbye to Stephanie and headed to the far lot. It was
still hot, but the surrounding trees’ long shadows covered most of the open
areas, and she appreciated the shade. Her pace slowed as the showcase of water
lilies in the long reflecting pool caught her attention. The blooms filled the
pond with a riot of yellows and pinks and white, gently resting above the broad
green pads in the water. Her eyes drifted along the length of the pool, and she
slowly became aware of something else. Small stones were placed one by one,
very precisely in the middle of the terra cotta tiles covering the pool walls.
Lisa looked around the pool – yes, the small stones encircled it completely.
She smiled. It reminded her of the games she used to play with Joey when she
was little. Before he went off to Iraq.
As she turned away from the pool,
something caught her eye—an open space in the pattern of the stones. She looked
down, and the missing stone lay on the ground. She couldn’t resist. She walked
over and picked it up, rubbing it between her thumb and forefinger. Looking carefully at the open space and judging the middle as carefully as she could, she
lay the stone in place and stood back, ready to walk on. She almost bumped into
the curly-haired blond boy standing right behind her.
“Oh!” Lisa jumped back. “Sorry! I
didn’t see you.”
He looked up with sparkling green
eyes and smiled, revealing a missing front tooth. “That’s all right, Lisa.
Don’t be sorry.”
She frowned. “How do you know my
name?” She said, looking around for a parent.
He laughed, and she forgot what
she had been looking for. “It’s okay, Lisa. Thanks for putting my stone back in
place. Noone else would do it.”
“Oh,” Lisa said uncertainly. She
couldn’t remember what she had been doing. Where was she heading now? “I saw
where it belonged, is all.”
“Yes, you did.” He reached up and
took her hand, leading her with a slight tug to walk on the path. “Let’s go,
Lisa.”
“Oh,” she said again, feeling a
little hazy. “Okay…where are we going?”
He smiled up and swung their arms
back and forth, like she and Joey used to do.
“I know,” he said, “I love doing
this too. Thanks, Lisa, you’re the best!”
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Dogs in house:
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Houdini
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Time writing:
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30 minutes
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June word
count:
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12,904
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