Saturday, November 5, 2011

A girl possessed

Crystal is a whirlwind. Even her hair is topsy and turvy, always tied up in uneven fistfuls, part lines crooked and pigtails askew.

She enters the playroom at a dead sprint, beelines for the rocking horse and rocks furiously for 13 seconds before beelining again to the next brightly-colored object that catches her eye. Seven minutes later, having shaken and tossed every toy in the room, she simply spins, arms out and chin to the ceiling, in the middle of the linoleum floor.

Even as four-year-old's go, Crystal is almost alarmingly energetic. But what is being four, if not for spinning, jumping and tearing about? Childhood manifests itself vibrantly in Crystal. She is a girl possessed by a bounding, leaping soul.