For some strange reason, kids get drawn to me very easily. They wave at me from the back seat of their parents cars, they stick out their sticky hands to grab my hair or glasses, and occasionally stare me down till I look away before I burst out laughing.
Last night, I had gone out after work to catch a movie with a friend from work, which was weird in itself as I don't really watch that many movies to begin with, and especially not on weeknights after a long day at work. But somehow it happened, and at 7:40 pm, a few minutes before we're scheduled to go into the cinema itself I find myself on a bench eating the driest, vilest doughnut I've ever had in my life. (I don't like doughnuts in the first place, but I was hungry)
So, we're talking to each other and suddenly this kid shows up, all smiles, trying his best to say something to me in baby talk and some mumbling which I obviously didn't understand. My friend, (who kids are supposedly afraid of) translates that the kid wants my doughnut and happily suggested that I entice the kid by tearing off a bit of the doughnut and wave it around so he comes nearer. Much to my horror, I found myself actually tearing off a quarter of the doughnut, and weakly wave it. The kid walks nearer, and actually makes a grab for it and takes it right off my fingers as I look in aghast waiting for an annoyed parent to come and yell at me for 'feeding' their child (and probably causing him to be awake all night because of the sugar!) My parents would have killed me if I had been two and taken food from a stranger although the stranger looks like she is a nice girl in safety boots. Don't ask.
My friend didn't help much either by saying again and again that you can't give food to a stranger's child! (I knew that, but you can't fight with a kid by taking back the doughnut he had taken from you right? What if he starts crying and screaming and I get accused of being a kidnapper or something?)
My friend didn't help much either by saying again and again that you can't give food to a stranger's child! (I knew that, but you can't fight with a kid by taking back the doughnut he had taken from you right? What if he starts crying and screaming and I get accused of being a kidnapper or something?)
The kid skips off, elated at first. No parents came and yelled at me because they had actually disappeared and left the poor kid unattended and alone! How irresponsible. As the kid worriedly looks while wildly screaming for his parents in a language only he understands, he actually stops to take a bite of the doughnut he had in his hands. We burst out laughing. Seems like he loves the doughnut more than his parents!