Balanced

There’s a little boy, three or four years old, stomping around at the coffee shop. When he manages to get a cabinet door open, his mother collects him and takes him back to the table where she’s talking to a friend. When it’s time to leave, he’s bundled in a jacket with a wooly hood and they head for the door. The kid leads the way, the mother is behind him pushing an empty stroller, and the mother’s friend brings up the rear. The door is swinging shut and the boy takes a couple of bold steps over to it, grabs the handle with both hands and pulls. But the door continues it’s swing shut, taking the boy with it. He tilts forward without losing his footing. His mom began to react as soon as she saw him reaching for the door handle above his head, she stretches around the stroller to steady him, but only reaches the handle as it’s closing. The kid has already regained his balance. She swings the door open, giving the kid a paper cup to hold onto. The kid skips outside, studying the cup, which he’s holding out in front of him with both hands. He tips the cup to the side to test the lid and a little bit of liquid dribbles out of the cup onto the sidewalk. His mother talks to the friend outside for a few minutes, before she heads up the street with the boy trailing behind her, drinking from the paper cup. He walks straight into one of the sidewalk chairs, stumbles back a step, and maneuvers around the chair – his two hands clenching the cup up in front of his face.

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