That morning he came out of his house with
his regular outfit (he liked to dress quite formal. with shoes, formal
pants and a shirt, even though the company didn't require that).
After
ten minues of walking and still on the first block, he noticed the
footstep of a person coming from behind, very close to him, to his left,
it sounded like women shoes walking at a slow pace. His own steps were
more frequent, but also much shorter, so this woman was soon beside him,
one more step of her and she already was ahead of him, then she stopped
and turned towards him.
"Good morning, little John"
She had to
look down to look at him, she was very close to him and was using some
kitten heel shoes. He always noticed the kind of shoes people used,
because it was the first thing he saw when someone stood that near. The
shoes, the socks, the details of the foot and the ankle, all parts he
knew very well from the people who stood in front of him.
However.
She was so close that he had to take a few steps back in order to be
able to look up at her face, although, by her voice he had already
recognized her. "Good morning Mrs. Stapleton" Said John as loud as he
could in order to be heard. Mrs Stapleton, was a 84 year old woman with
whom he had talked in a few ocassions. She was now looking down and
smiling kindly. "Do you need help this morning getting to the bus stop?"
She said in a sweet voice.
The problem was that this woman was
too old to just bend down and pick him up, he was way too far from her
hands, down there at her feet.
But she already was prepared for this
situation. She had found a small wool string in her house and she
thought "this can be useful to help that little guy" so she carried it
in her purse for that very purpose. "wait a minute" she said, and she
took the string out and let one tip fall to the ground, so he could
grab, "Please John, grab the string, i'm gonna lift you up, you will be
safe" and she extended her arm so the lower tip of string came right in
front of him.
It was the first time he was offered to hold to a
string to be picked up, but after all, it would save him a big amount of
time if she could carry him to the stop. So He grabbed the string tight
with his two hands and raised his legs wrapping them around the string,
as soon as he did, the old woman lifted the string and brought it
closer to her, then she pulled the string up until she could grab little
john with one of her hands. It was the first time she was grabbing him
with her hand. At first she hesitated, she didn't know how to do it
without pressing too hard or hurting him, so she positioned her fingers
around his body and asked "May I?"
"Sure, just be careful please."
replied John, who was, a little scared, he always was a little scared
the first time he was going to be picked up by someone new, some people
pressed too hard and made him hurt. But he had no choice but to trust.
She closed her fist around him softly but without restraining his arms,
so he could extend them over her enormous hand to hold on.
Before
resuming the walk she took him up to the same height of her face, so
she could have a better look at him, the truth is she always had seen
him from above, and didn't know his face very well. She recognized him
because of his particular size. Also, from that close distance it was
easier to talk. "Oh, Hello Little john, It's nice to hold you in my hand
so i can have a better look at you, are you ok? Am I pressing too
hard?" Said she kindly and with a smile.
"No, no, it's ok, Mrs Stapleton. thank you for helping me" replied John, who was holding himself to her fingers with his arms.
"Aww, you look so cute" said she "but let me put you in my purse so I can carry you to your destination".
He
nodded, and then she lowered him to her purse, she was carrying a very
small one, but enough for John to fit, so she dropped him inside. Then
he felt the string fall onto him. She put the lid and closed the purse,
leaving him total darkness and total old lady purse smell.
He took the string from his head and put it aside.
She started to walk, so the purse starded to rock. He felt the steps and the soft swinging of the purse.
She
didn't walk as fast as a young regular sized person, but much faster
than he could ever dream to walk. So, after a few minutes, he felt the
movements stop
Light came from above as she opened the lid of the
purse and he saw her giant hand going inside, she softly wrapped his
body with her fingers and lifted him.
Then with the other hand she took the string and unfolded it to the ground. bringing close to him the tip, so he could grab it.
"Hold tight John, we are going down!"
When
was taken out, he noticed they were in the bus stop, and that there
were four other people waiting for the bus. Mrs Stapleton was standing
behind the last person (in John's city people formed queues to wait for
the bus, even if they were very few people)
When the old woman spoke,
the person who was right ahead of them subtly turned to look at them
and then turned back. But it was enough for him to notice that it was a
woman with chinese-like features around her fourties.
As the old
woman lowered him, he had a good view on the body of the woman in front
of him. He usually saw people from the ground, so when he had the chance
to have other perspectives of people bodies it was something
interesting for him. The chinese-like woman was wearing tight black
jeans, a soft wool sweater and some flat delicate shoes.
After he
reached the floor, very close to Mrs Stapleton shoes, he once again had
to take few steps back to look at the old woman, she waved her hand and
said "Good by Little John, have a good day"
"Good bye Mrs Stapleton, Thank you very much" shouted him with a voice that she could barely hear from up there.
Then she turned and walked away.
Now John was standing in the line waiting for the bus, with 4 other people ahead.
Seconds
after Mrs Stapleton left he noticed a young woman with a little boy
approaching the bus stop, looked like he was no longer going to be the
last one in the queue.