Sunday as I rowed about the faire I came across a couple of woman walking along, quietly observing the faire. The first woman saw me, chuckled, and poked her friend in order to point me out. When I come across behavior like that I immediately take it as an open invitation to play. I approached them, “Good day ladies, why walk when you can ride, I’d be happy to row ya to yer destination.” The woman who had pointed me out in the first place laughed, and the two agreed. “Now, mind the wobbly railing, I’ve been meaning ta get that fixed” The second woman looked at me with a playful smile and very cautiously stepped over the “railing”. The first woman walked right over behind her, not stepping over the railing. The second woman saw this, and called her friend on it. “HEY!!! You didn’t get in right!” The first woman argued that she had in fact stepped over the railing. This response was met by a more excited, and slightly more juvenile sounding, “No you didn’t!” The two continued back and forth for a few seconds unaware that with each retort their argument was regressing further back into that of a childhood playground. I stood there compleetly amused by this and non-verbally calling attention to the two of them as others passed. Then, one of the two realized that they were indeed bickering like little kids and the look upon her face was nothing short of priceless. At first a look of shock came over her face. I can only imagine that the internal monologue she was having went something like this. “oh god, I hope no one saw that, I’m an adult i should act my age…” Without the continued feedback the second woman also realized what they had been doing, and the same momentary look of shock appeared on her face, but then both looks were replaced by a guilty smirk that then grew into a full fledged ear to ear grin, followed by laughter. At that point they produced a camera and begged me for pictures with them. As the one woman stepped back to snap the picture the other called out “HEY!!! You’re in the water!” “No I’m not! I can walk on water!”, came the sing-songly retort, followed by an eruption of giggles from the two women. The two then traded places and there was an shout of, “You’re going to get eaten by sharks!!!” I saw the one struggling for a response and I interjected “No, she’s fine, didn’t you see her extend the plank off the bow of the ship?” “Yeah! See I walked out on the plank!!!”, more giggles erupted. With the last picture taken the two carefully stepped over the imaginary railing, burst into a fit of laughter again, and said goodbye. Not letting them get off so easily I commented “but we haven’t docked yet, now you both are swimming. ” Laughter ensued, and I rowed onward.
I was really fun to see them able to let go of their preconceptions of how one should behave, and just relax and have fun even for just a few moments. I can’t help but wonder if the two of them continued to play like that the rest of the day.
John's Musings 