by J.B. Hickock

Created on: September 24, 2011

How I met Maya

On March 10, 2009 I went, with all my family, excepting my younger brother, to a Purim party and Megillah reading at the home of friends, held for a group of homeschooling families.

 To be clear, we are homeschoolers, as are our friends whose home we went to, as well as all the families that were there present: there is a loose organization of homeschooling families in Israel, to which we belong.

 After the reading of the Megillah(the story of Esther, Haman, and the origins of the holiday of Purim) the families broke up and the party started: there were games, food, and toys to play with; one young lady had brought a face-painting kit and was painting the faces of the younger children who wished for it.

 At some point about 6 O'clock, I became tired of the party, for I am not one who likes being among many people, and I stepped out the side door onto the deck our friends have attached to their home; I leaned upon the railing, and just stared into the distance, not thinking of anything important, as is my wont when I tire of my surroundings.

 Then my younger sister called out to me: she was sitting on the steps before the front door with two other young ladies, all in costume, for that is our custom: to wear costumes on that day; I went back inside and came out the front door and sat down beside my sister, the other two on the other side of her from me.

 One of the young ladies was a friend of hers I knew well; my sister introduced the other to me, saying that she was also a writer.

 Roughly ten minutes later, my sister and her friend left, leaving myself and the other young lady alone. It was that point that I began to lose track of time, though I did not realize it then.

 While her speech was unpracticed, as if she rarely had anyone who would actually listen to what she had to say, I found her utterly fascinating.

 We talked about many things, and as we talked, a most peculiar thing happened: I began to feel a strange, warm, fuzzy feeling in the left-center my chest, which gradually spread to my entire body; I couldn't stop smiling, even after the muscles of my mouth began to ache.

 I found that we shared opinions on many subjects, and had similar life experiences; our eyes were drawn to the sames things in the distance(a first experience for me); we both thought the same things are funny, and overall, we were very alike to each other.

 The party began to break up, and people started to leave:

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