Nostalgia

As we drove passed the old oak tree or what was left of it I remembered how often that had been a marker for people who were coming to our’s and were somewhat confused or how it had been the spot where I had my first kiss, or how often at times it had been the spot where all the children had gathered to tell tall tales. All that was left now of that magical spot was a stump and dilapidated wood wet and soggy from where I was sitting. Our drive wasn’t as short as it should have been and the honking of car horns and slow traffic made it even less desirable as we journeyed slower than usual. I let my gaze travel around seeing everything and nothing as none could hold my attention for more than a few seconds. Alas, a sight that seemed familiar, a little boy in a bus just adjacent our vehicle, he was pointing at every vendor and tugging at his mom’s shirt, and the mom, with every tug she looked the other way, I knew the drill, golden memories it brought back of a time when mother and I sat in buses too, unlike this young boy I sat on a framework that covered the bus’s engine, it was usually so hot that I decided to stand or if I was lucky another passenger would assist my mom. Mother had to carry my younger sister, a baby bag, and often her bag, there was rarely space on her skinny laps to carry me as well, I understood this perfectly. The tug brought back a memory of a particular memory, looking back now it was a hilarious one, where a very ambitious (for lack of a better word) vendor offered my little sister biscuits to robe my mom into buying it for her. The misery that young man must have faced that day as the traffic light turned green immediately she took it, and the bus sped away, mom didn’t notice until a subtle tug from my sister brought her to the realization that her toddler was probably a highway thief, literally. I smiled and waved at the little boy, I caught his attention and we played a little game of now you see me and now you don’t until he forgot about his craving for a while until another vendor took his attention away. The traffic slowly dissipated and we finally moved, the silence engulfed the car again, I think it was imminent after all, we just laid mother to rest.