JMan has an easy laugh. The other kids like him. He is up more than he is down.
I was sitting out side with him on Friday, at a table in front of a Thai restaurant in downtown Kirkland. The waitress had taken our order and I started talking about the future. He stopped me.
“If this is about what I’m going to do when I grow up, I don’t want to talk about it.”
He just turned eleven. I cracked up with laughter. He joined in. I was laughing heartily and I high-fived him. A wicked thought crossed my mind and I wondered if I could pull it off.
I froze my face, serious and gave him a stare down look.
“Do it anyway.”
I held it for a second or three and then cracked up again just as his face started to react to me.
His explosive laugh hit a high pitched note it doesn’t often hit. I had gotten him and he knew it. We laughed for quite a while about it.