Smiles

Smiles

000

Jon was pissed. No, he was majorly pissed. And he was extremely tired. It seems like nothing wanted to go his way. Nothing at all. He had only a few measly hours of sleep because of his job, and his computer was shitting out on him. No, Jon was not a very happy camper that particular day. But when his girlfriend had asked him to go get her something from the mall, he couldn't say no.

He wasn't exactly sure why she couldn't have gone herself, because Jon wasn't the most competent in the store, and he had called her every two minutes just to make sure the purchase was correct. But he was still pissed. The female cashier could tell he was pissed, because when he approached the checkout, she backed up slightly.

But, she took care of what she needed to do, and she handed Jon his plastic bag and told him to have a nice day. He grumbled a thank you which caused the young woman to shrink slightly back in fear. He couldn't have looked that bad! Of course Jon was wrong, as everyone in the store seemed wary of his angry presence.

Even Jon was feeling a bit tired of his rage. He just wanted to go home and sleep. But knowing his job he'd probably end up getting woken up again to go do this or that. He groaned at the thought. He just wanted some time to himself. And no one seemed very keen on the idea. Jon shrugged all of this off as he continued through the mall towards the exit.

He paused slightly, staring at the window of the local video game store. He was tempted to walk in, just for a small peek. But he knew he didn't have much money at the moment, and if he blew it all on video games, he'd regret it royally later. So he took one last forlorn look at the displays and moved away towards the escalators.

The tiredness and pissed off-ness were really starting to hit even harder now that he knew that he was so close to letting all that stuff go. People seemed to once again be intimidated by his aura and steered clear away from him, but he ignored it. He noticed there seemed to be a small commotion near the escalators, and people were laughing and smiling. He didn't really think much of it and he stepped onto the escalator.

That's when he heard it, a small little voice was yelling towards the crowd, who were laughing and smiling. As much as Jon hated to admit it, he grew a bit curious. He looked up to where everyone was looking, and he understood why everyone was laughing.

Right there next to the escalator there was a glass railing for the floor above it. And right through the glass, there was a small bright eyed boy no older than two standing there in his bunny hoodie. He was waving energetically to the people going down the escalators.

"Bye! Bye bye! Byebyebye!" The little boy called out to the crowd, waving his hand at them.

People were smiling, and waving back, even people who seemed to be focused on other things, or who you'd expect to be too 'cool' to do it. But there they were, looking up and waving to the little boy. Jon noticed the boy's father not too far away with his video camera out, laughing at his son's antics.

Then Jon turned back to the little boy, who seemed to notice Jon looking at him. He grinned at the man and waved his hand at him. "Bye bye!"

Jon looked at the boy for a moment, before his own face broke out into a smile, and he raised a hand to the little boy and waved it slowly. The boy seemed to be overjoyed with the response and he giggled happily. Jon turned away as soon as he realized he was at the bottom of the escalators.

It was as though all his negative feelings disappeared from his body. It's amazing what one little boy could do to brighten someone's day. Just a simple acknowledgement and just a simple 'bye bye!' as people passed by.

He could hear the sound of the father of the little boy above him. "Come on Emile! Your mommy is waiting!"

Yeah, thanks, Emile. Jon walked out the exit, smiling to himself.