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À la Clay Pigeons, I found a woman with three kids to sit beside. Why? Because I wanted a cloaking device. Everyone keeps their distance from women traveling with little kids, but this one came with the added bonus of a nursing baby. No one wants to look her direction lest they see a bare breast, or worse — see a need they’ll feel guilty about not filling. People might glance her way, but their gaze will skitter to safer territory. Sitting next to her imparts a measure of invisibility to me. Should the other kids start acting up, those glances turn to daggers aimed at her and I’ll fade out of existence completely.
A toddler gripped the edge of an orange plastic seat in chubby fists and swayed on wobbly legs. He eyed me like I was a fire breathing dragon that had plopped down between him and the woman I assumed was his mother. I say assumed because the child was a golden haired, golden skinned, blue-eyed cherub. The mother, the baby at her breast, and the little girl tucked against her side were ebony-skinned and brown-eyed. Still, there was no mistaking the worried frown of a mother whose baby has wandered just a little too far away and the toddler’s anxious fixation on her. He shoved a fist in his mouth and sucked while he considered his options. She winced and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was – germs.
The little one apparently decided to make a run for it. He hurled his body toward mom, arms outstretched with that fast, tilted-forward style of a baby just learning to walk. The key was choosing a landing spot close enough to reach before he toppled over.. The little guy miscalculated and went down at my feet. He arched his back taking the force of the fall on his belly and avoiding hitting his head. At first his mouth worked soundlessly as he grew more agitated by his inability to get a breath. His feet kicked and his hands slapped at the floor. I bent to scoop him up just as he managed to fill his lungs with air and the bus terminal with a howl that turned every head in our direction.
So much for invisibility.
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