A gloomy mood was creeping into the living room. On the couch laid Mr. Jones, a man whose hair had the colour of salt and pepper and who was drinking from a beer can. There was a cushion on the floor, seating on it was Lara, a young girl with perhaps 4 years (could she be 5?). She had blonde hair and an angelic look that all childs have. She was grabbing a brown teddy bear which looked rather happy in her arms.
Lara was trying to ascertain the species of the dinossaur she was looking at, it looked agressive and mean (perhaps a T-Rex?), failing do to that, she asked her mother, who was reading a book next to her, to help her. “That’s an allosaurus” said her mother, smurking. “That’s right!” thought Lara, tomorrow she would show the magazine in which was the dinossaur to her friend Sarah and tell her everything about it. She had always liked to pass on knowledge.
Mrs. Jones continued reading, Mr. Jones continued drinking and shouting whenever one of the footballers would miss a chance to score. Lara continued learning about dinossaurs and the teddy bear remained silent and still.
Then, things just went wrong.
Lara was now playing with her dolls, Mrs. Jones was still reading, the teddy bear was quiet and Mr. Jones was drinking, but this time, he was drinking from a different can. He yelled, insulting the coach’s family up to his great grandmother, a remarkable feat since he didn’t knew the coach or his family. Mrs. Jones told her husband to settle down, saying he was making an awfull quantity of noise, doubtlessly worrying about what would the neighbours think. He replied, asking her to shut up. Mr. and Mrs. Jones argued, saying things they didn’t meant, thinking things they didn’t felt.
Things got out of control, Mr. Jones grabbed one of the small decorative chests that were on the table and throwed it in Mrs. Jone’s direction. But she wasn’t the only one in range, Lara was trying hard not to listen to the grown-ups and she was talking to Bibblo, for that was the name of the teddy bear. The chest hit her with a dull sound, she never saw it coming. Bibblo fell, as the strength of Lara’s grip diminished. He hit the floor at the exact same moment Lara did.
A short-story by
Carlos André da Palma Alves
