Elation

This Story was written for the barnesandnoble.com presents...Write & Win Contests topic, Music. The rules, in short, were that the story had to mention the topic, and be 250 words or less. This story took first place in the contest.


I watched him dance, slim body shining golden in the light of a fiery late day sun.

The sheen of sweat clung to his lithe frame the way silk holds to the body of a spider’s prey.

His skin was warm, the color of buttered rum, darker yet against the shock-white of the sand. The other children danced alongside him… their grins infectious, the sound of their laughter a refrain that flew above the canopy of trees to caress a sky so blue it seemed endless.

No drums sang today, no voice rose in song or prayer. The only music was the reverberation of children’s laughter.

I watched a girl near the crowd’s edge thrust her arms above her head, her new school book a trophy she carried as proudly as any Olympian.

Hunger was a familiar garment on her body, but elation was the dress she wore today.

When had I laughed last? Really laughed?

Who knew.

It didn't matter, because I was laughing now. Reminded by children of what was really important.

~January 15, 2005