lapsus linguae

Monday, October 31, 2005

Exercise #1

I did not notice him at first. I was busy with the papers I was reading. Later, when I jogged my memory, I would see the darkened conference room and the light from the projector that divided us as we sat diagonally opposite on a round table. We were each cocooned in our dark corners, oblivious and blissful. It was a technical training on some esoteric programming technique and like anything esoteric, deliciously soporific. I must have dozed off, for suddenly I heard a different voice and I squinted in the bright light of the projector to find out who it belonged to. I saw a hand growing upward from a shining elbow directly in the path of the light. As my eyes travelled up the hands cupped together ending in entwined fingers, a pair of brown eyes and pin striped collar came forward into the light. The speaker was asking a serious question. His elaborate gestures, suggested a carefully orchestrated caricature of professionalism. He might have just pulled it off had it not been for his eyes. They were those of a five year old, brimming with mischief and mockery, temptingly holding out the promise of a hidden prank, a stifled giggle, a stuck-out tongue chanting 'boo' or a naughty secret. I could almost imagine him falling off his chair laughing at the victim of some prank of his. But now the eyes were pulled back into darkness. And I forgot all about him.

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