"The Busker" by Carter Crosby
My mother hands me several quarters. I immediately think of what I can spend
them on鈥� but before I can tell her, she turns me around.
There is a soft-looking man with curly white-orange hair and a beard. He plays a
guitar.
His case is open on the ground. My mom nudges my back.
She signs to me, 鈥淕o.鈥�
I walk up to the case and see there are other coins. I thumb at the fringe on my little
dress and toss my coins in. I look at the man. He is the same height as me sitting on
his ledge, but if he stood he would be very tall. He looks at me and smiles, then says
something I can鈥檛 hear. He notices my mother and she points to her ears. He nods at
me.
I watch him sing. He looks around at passing people. He looks at my mother and
me. He looks out a lot.
The veins in his neck burst out and sink in. It鈥檚 like his life wants out. Sometimes,
when I think they might pop out, he closes his eyes. He scrunches his forehead.
Sometimes he smiles. His eyes say he is looking for someone he has lost.
Suddenly, I miss my father. I don鈥檛 stop watching.
The man finishes playing. He looks at me. We stay in each other鈥檚 eyes for a
moment. He reaches out to me. I shake his hand.
I look back to my mother, and she waves to him. She says nice things to him. I can
tell they are nice, because she is glowing. People glow when they are happy.
My mother takes my hand and we leave. When I look back, he has already started
another song. There are new people passing by, but now he is glowing, too.
Carter Crosby is a Virginia-born writer, actor, and musician with the same birthday as Whitney Houston. Supposedly, he can do a great Kermit the Frog impression and is totally not afraid of the dark.