ein roter luftballoon, nicht neunundneunzig luftballoons
I had a lovely moment this morning – coming out of the Metro underground at Pershing Square, I walked over to Broadway and 4th, where I had to wait on traffic before I could cross the street.
A single, lost red balloon – apparently fading on its helium filling – suddenly strayed into the street. It had a frayed red ribbon tied to it, and the balloon seemed to slowly meander its way through the air, dodging the cars around it that were exceeding local speed limits.
For a few moments, that balloon hovered near my face, like the curious hummingbirds at the parks do, before it blew back into the street. This is one of those scenes you only anticipate in some art-house film or a badly done drama with too many visual metaphors, but this … being reality, it was perfect.
I had woken up to a not-so-lovely day, and that silly red balloon taking its sweet time floating around the traffic of downtown Los Angeles – it was nice. It made me stop still for a bit, and ’smile aloud.’ I’m sorry to whatever child may have lost his/her balloon, but it certainly made my day a bit brighter, and probably for numerous other jaded Angelinos in suits, as well.
I proceeded to hear Nena in my head for the remainder of the day.
*sigh*
That is all.
