Window Seats

she had always been quiet..... and he had always liked her.

in fact, he could remember the first time he had ever noticed her. back in third grade, when he had just started to notice a lot of things, that he hadn't before.

it was indoor recess, and she was sitting on the floor by the window, cushions from the storytime carpet were not only underneath her, but surrounding her, and covering her lap, so that she could sit with her cross-legged in her skirt without being "indecent".

something about her made him stop playing with his toy fire truck, which had been putting out the fire in lego brick mansion, and watch her. he remembered thinking of the stories his mom had told him to keep him occupied as she did chores, of lovely princess' who stayed trapped in towers by wicked witches who were jealous of them, or by evil little men with tiny feet, who locked them up to repay favors, or of beast's who kept them for themselves.

and as he looked at her, reading a book that was several grades above their reading level, surrounded by her fortress of cushions, he wondered why the princess had built her own tower, and locked herself away.