advanced-comfort-blog

[advanced-comfort-blog]

Prompt: “Describe a character walking across an expanse field or lot and describe how he walks. The reader should understand some of his personality simply by the way you describe his walk.”

I’ve seen this man walk past me more times than I’ve eaten this past week. Always with the same, weighted jaunt. There must be something mighty interesting in those pleated-pants pockets because his hands never drifted far from their linings. Or perhaps he uses too much energy carrying himself across the pavement as he is now. Reminds me of the ghosts I’d admire in cartoons ages ago- floating amongst the living, trying to make a presence in this realm.

His shoulders loomed like his aura. Non-threatening to say the least. A half-hearted attempt at bipedalism to say the most. The sure signs of a dampened spirit wore him like the raincoat he really should have on right now. But I guess he didn’t mind the droplets weighing him down more. At that point, it’s a game of over-encumber an elephant one feather at a time. 

Every day I see him and every one of those days his soles lift off the sidewalk a hair lower. Maybe a tad higher to step over a puddle, but if I had shoes like that, I’d muster the strength, too. It must be the weight of responsibility. Or stress? Or maybe the weight of knowing that someone analyzes your walk home every day.