A Grain of SandBy Keith Hays |
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| How long have I known Anthony? Not long. Just a tick of the clock, the time that it takes for a grain of sand to fall from the reservoir of time yet to come to rest upon the tiny peak of time gone by. How long? Not long. Time had not flowed enough to turn the glass. The receptacle was not yet full. How long? Not long at all and yet it was a lifetime too soon over. I saw his twelfth and thirteenth year come and pass into yesterdays. I saw his excitement in learning and his frustration at the drudgery of schooling. I saw him transformed from the serious child who wore a sardonic grin that seemed to say, "I know more than you think that I do." and become a boy impatient with life - impatient to be about a journey into a waiting world of adulthood. I felt his gentle tease and kind examining gaze. How long? Not long, just a tick of time, enough for him to build a little house in my heart that he has filled up with memories and yesterdays that will be there through all of my tomorrows. The glass was turned too soon and all the time that was to come became as yesterdays. Now all the grains of sand that had accumulated in the bottom of his glass must run again and again repeating in the endless loop of memory. How long? Not long. Just an instant. Just a lark. Just a second of time as his impatience to grow up took hold of him and led him to assay an adventure in the closeness of the night. How long? Not long, when a child frightened by the thought of being caught in his misdeed decided to run for safety. How long? Not long, as speed and inexperience joined to crush tons of metal and a little boy’s tomorrow and end the promise of a child’s yearnings. How long? Eternity. A tick of the clock. The falling of a grain of sand. |