pleasant patrol

Even Baghdad is balmy.  Today was such a nice day.  I think everybody put their qualms aside today.  Everyone likes balmy.  It doesn't incite. Inclement incites.

The kids were really happy in the streets. One boy holds his index and pinky fingers up in a "rock on" fashion every time we pass by.  I wonder where he learned that.

Then by a soccer game of teens of mixed athletic ability.  I saw a young man kick at and then miss the ball terribly.  I saw myself.  I longed to stop by vehicle, drop my costume, and play (and miss the ball terribly).

Then we passed a young man and his mother.  He wore a soccer jersey and a scowl, typical of an Iraqi youth left to find easy answers in the Shiite militias.  I imagine his mother begged him not to do something; something probably involving violence.  He refused and left her side.   I looked back to the mother.  She looked worried, but pressed on with the evening's groceries.

I hope they make up by Mother's Day.