At the sounds of squeals and laughter, I looked across the street from where I stood waiting at the city bus stop, and sprinting up the sidewalk, three young girls were engaged in a race.
Two of them looked to be about 7 and 9, respectively, while the tallest of the three, about 11. Over their blue jeans, the young ones had on winter coats-- one in a puffy black number, the other in a magenta version. The tallest girl was wearing a primarily white base sweatshirt with a pattern I was unable to make out.
The girl in magenta was in the lead, and so certain was she of victory, that at one point, she turned around, placed her thumbs in each ear, wiggled the remaining fingers tauntingly and stuck out her tongue.
This, in turn, spurred the tallest to tap into a newly discovered reservoir of speed, and had her picking up her pace. With a look of surprise, that quickly changed to delight and then determination, the girl in the lead, turned back around and redoubled her efforts.
This all seemed to have the opposite effect on the younger girl in the black coat. She stopped in her tracks for about 20 seconds and watched the others. But then changed her mind and once again broke into a run.
Finally, they were all reunited at the end of the sidewalk -- which coincidentally, faced a traffic stop where the signal stated they did not have the right of way.
Perhaps the plan was always to stop at that fixed point, or perhaps the stop signal made the decision for them. But they stood together, laughing and teasing each other, while their guardians, three older females, with large purses and one pink roller bag, caught up to them.
When the signal changed, they continued their journey and I found myself wondering when last I had engaged in a physical, impromptu race with friends simply for the sake of playing.