http://www.vpr.net/audio/programs/229/2012/11/YWP_11-26_JessicaAustin.mp3
Jessica Austin is a junior at Essex High School. Of her writing, she says, I write all the time, forming little half stories or even one-liners in my head.
Unimpaired
by Jessica Austin
he sees the shades in a rainbow
in multiples of three
face tipped skyward
he's stepping closer to the bandstand
with his arms spread wide
he's jumping
swaying
to submerse himself in the music
he's not alone
here
though he usually is
the woman playing the upright bass is
glaring at him
wondering how his
babysitters
could allow him to become so out of control
how they could permit him to
bellow-shout
so close to the music
but he's beaming
the thirty-year-old man
glances back at his peers
some in wheelchairs
some drooling on their shirts
he's beaming at them
and some are clapping for him
he's not alone
not here
where his group has lunch on Tuesdays when it's sunny
he's not alone here
an older woman
who has a badge on a lanyard
that says something along the lines of
I'm in charge of these people
or
I care when no one else does
stands and leaves the group of middle-aged men and women
to take the hands of the dancing man
and in front of god
in front of the glaring woman on the upright bass
and all the people spread across the green on this sunny Tuesday
she takes the hands of the dancing man and
she sways with him
face tipped skyward
she's smiling so widely
laughing
with him
because he's not alone
not here
