Day 271: Lulu’s Moments

Lulu’s Moments
by
Matt Zurbo

 

One day, Lulu decided to go shopping.
(Girl dressed in 1930s clothes on a penny farthing bicycle.)

There were op shops and garage sales, but that wasn’t the sort of shopping Lulu was after.
(Girl riding towards reader, op shop and garage sale items and people in background.)

Lulu was shopping for moments.
(Girl standing in middle of super busy street, with greengrocers, and florist, and buskers with audience, and people getting on and off a tram, and kids on a skateboards.)

Things that only last a second.
(Girl, smiling, surrounded by a group of kids on skateboards all skating past her, a few of them with arms wide, as if flying, free.)

That she could take a photo of, with her eyes.
(All sorts of kites in the air, and two or three birds.)

That aren’t stories, but sometimes tell a story.
(Girl watching woman hold her baby that is putting its whole face into bunch of flowers that florist is holding.)

Memories.
(On end of pier with several other kids, several of them jumping off, some already in water.)

Of being relaxed.
(Lying in the long grass with a friend, both of them looking at the clouds.)

Not of the whole game, just that moment of being invincible.
(Running with football.)

Of having fun, as if time lasts forever.
(Dad, holding girl above head and running. Girl, arms out, as if an aeroplane.)

Of a brief second in an otherwise dull day.
(Girl in class. Everybody else looking at work on desks. She is looking out window at bird feed its young, just as streak of light hits tree.)

Of working hard.
(Family sweating, building a brick wall, boy standing on unfinished wall, singing to radio. Others watching him, but still working.)

Of doing nothing…
(Skimming rocks with boy.)

Of being free…
(Dancing, big grin, in mud, while others watch.)

Lulu imagined if she had enough moments, she could store them.
(Lulu sitting at foldout table, fingers locked, smiling, in a small room full of jars of all sizes, each one with a label; Beach, Park, Tears, Puppy Fun, Nan’s Sad Smile, Getting Muddy, Snowball Fight, Hugging Mum, Car Ride, Waking to Kookaburras, Netball Until Dark, Reading By Moonlight, Sunrise, Smell of Fresh Bread, etc…)

And share them.
(Giving jar to other girl, who is opening lid, eyes closed, content smile, inhaling. Label on jar says; Cloud Dragons.)

And revisit them when life was boring.
(Girl sitting legs out, propped up by arms, three jars around her, lids off, releasing glorious, rich orange sunset, that is rising from jars and filling space above her.)

Or hard.
(Cold, dark, lonely, hugging jar that says; Listening to Cat’s Purr.)

Or just because.
(Peg on nose, smiling, opening jar labelled; Laughing at Fart Joke. Other kids, no peg on noses, recoiling in disgust.)

Sometimes Lulu wished she could make every moment last forever, and live in each one.
(Climbing into a big jar labelled: Dancing to Buskers. Buskers are already in there, playing.)

But then there would be no new moments to collect.
(Girl, back on penny farthing, riding hands free, fingers shaped into a frame, frame pointed at two pretty butterflies.)

And it was finding them that was so special.
(Just text, no image.)

The End