Two's Company

My friends are into oceanography, the origins of faith, tectonic plates, spaceship conspiracy theories, aromatherapy, and all sorts of worthy areas of study. My fascination lies with the mind of a child. I was fortunate to be sitting in the sparsely populated Café car of the Carolinian when a girl I estimated to be two hopped onto the seat across the table. Pulling on one of her eight tight braids, she gave me a big grin. I had overheard the conversation she had been having with her grandmother full of Sits and Don'ts. This was one live wire tot. The Café car is a good place to read as the windows are large and for long stretches the scenery never varies so I had brought along a paperback version of Prodigal Summer. This edition is unusual because there is also an inner cover I can only describe as a Hallmark moment. Since the author, Barbara Kingsolver, was a biology major her book is rich in the proper names of Biology World. The illustrations on this extra cover, however, simply had unlabeled standard greeting card drawings. The girl climbed on the table, grabbed the book, sat, and began to "read" to me. When she turned to the drawings, I told her what each one was. Big Butterfly. Baby Butterfly. Moth. Baby Moth. Beetle. Baby Beetle. I was astonished when she repeated them quickly and correctly. I asked the grandmother who hadn't moved from the table opposite to join us, "How old is she?" The grandmother answered, "Two. The Terrible Two's." Well, there was nothing terrible about this Two. We discussed thoroughly the possibilities of Baby Moth getting together for an ice cream social with Baby Beetle. We played a shadow game when a stripe of sunshine hit the table. Some ladies looking for white wine saw my book and exclaimed that they had read it. They started in on some hackneyed imitation of a blurb critic. Spare me. I was polite but I had to get back to Big Butterfly. I wished Barbara Kingsolver could have watched us, she who specializes in minute observation. What would she make of this delightful wunderkind? The Café closed for a break and the grandmother thanked me for my patience. Patience had naught to do with it. It was the sheer joy of connecting to the electricity of Fledgling Sapiens. Coincidentally, while at Riverside Church on Sunday, I noticed prominently displayed on the Summer Reading poster at the library adjacent to the sanctuary, the beautiful green colorations of Prodigal Summer. I will always remember the "reader" of that book during the summer of 2010 on a day when Two was the best of company.

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...may a little one's commentary bless your life today...