A man is leaning over a bridge gazing into the waters below.
"Are you going to jump?"
The man's stare turns blankly down to a little boy swinging on the rails. His soft brown curls appeared slightly damp from the cold fog rolling in on top of them both.
"I might." The man stated coolly as his sights turn back towards the murky depths below.
"Can I watch?" The little boys head was now between the rails straining to see the fast following river running below the concrete they stood upon.
The man crouched down and pulled the child away from the edge. "What's your name?" The man questioned.
"Jonathan." The boy smiled sweetly. His big innocent eyes gazed right through the man and into his soul.
"So is mine." The man replied as he took his place back at the rail.
"Does this mean I can watch?" The boy inquired as he started to climb the rails trying to find the best position to watch.
Jonathan glanced at the young child and looked over the dark waters straining to see the park he knew lay ahead.
"How old are you?" the man asked.
The child took a while to reply, so the man turned back to the child to find he was sitting on the concrete, engrossed with his shoelaces.
"Si...Seven." The child whispered, as if he was worried that he would get in trouble.
Noticing this Jonathan came up with another question to ask. "Do you want to be a fireman?"
"Yes! They are so cool" The child's response was dripping with enthusiasm.
"So did I"
"Are you a fireman?" he questioned.
"No." the man retorted flatly.
Jonathan looked thoughtful for a bit.
"Why not?"
"I changed my mind."
There was silence for a while, a child and a man looking over the safety rails trying to see through the fog and into the waters. The man closed his eyes for what seemed like forever, standing, listening to the rush under his feet, feeling the clammy breeze on his face and inhaling the scent of the autumn leaves and dank grass.
"Are you going to jump?"
The child queried suddenly jerking Jonathan back to reality and all he could think of that would seem alright to say was...
"I might."
The silence started to creep back in but the small child would not allow Jonathan the peace. He looked at the youth wriggling around trying to find something in the bottoms of his pockets.
After about 5 minutes he finally found the prize he pursued, it was a small bag, he opened it and plopped a colourful sweet between his jaws.
"Would you like a jelly bean?" he asked holding his treasure before the man.
"No thanks." He replied with a shake of his head.
"Don't you like them?" The child looked shocked that someone could not like the very thing that he had searched so long for.
"I can't remember." The man sighed sadly.
The boy got up from his seat and hid away his prize once again back into the black depths of his pocket. The man couldn't help but feel like doing just what those beans just did and slide into that dark obis below.
