he had big blue eyes and shortish blond hair on his small head. those were the first two things I remarked when he toddled over to me at first.
as I simply organized the Fun Fur baskets a little person filled with wonder approached me to introduce himself.

"Hi, my name's Michael and I'm tthhree," proudly displaying three fingers on his left hand.

"Hello," I said in return, taking a few moment of my before-pointless and uneventful day to meet this bundle of curiosity, "I'm Lauren."

"Hi... what's this?" and so began the onset of questions about almost every item that he could reach at his three year old height, rising to my mid-thigh.

questioning all of the incredibly interesting stichery merchandise, my new friend asked, "What does this do?"

"They're called scissors and they're really sharp to cut thread and things."

"What's this for?" I heard as a doll-sized hand thrusted a ball of yard my way.

"That you can use to make clothes like sweaters and scarves-" and my response was cut short.

"Michael! Flirting with the girls again? Come on, I'm going this way," a roundish dark-haired father said as he crossed the aisle in which my friend and I had been exploring the world.

"Bye!" and the bright little squirt vanished just as he had come.

I heard him in other parts of the store as I finished my recovery that night.
I was ringing on my register about twenty feet away from Michael and his family when they left tonight, and his little voice emanated through the entire front section even after he had left.

a little ball of joy and curiosity, he was.
his name was Michael and he was three.