One of my favorite words is microcosm.

[rinnia]

We were driving back from Target - paid the last of my spending cash to keep my cholesterol under control - and as we passed the high school, I saw a car in the parking lot. There was someone on the hood, laying with his knees bent, feet on the front bumper, and his arms wrapped over his stomach. His face was a mystery. Polaris by Jimmy Eat World was oozing from our speakers, and as the music swelled, I saw a clear snapshot of that boy. In that world, it isn't his car, but his best friend's, a girl with thick hips and a shiny face. She's inside the school, retrieving her forgotten homework, and she gets sidetracked by a chatty friend. On the hood of her car, the boy hugs his churning gut. Somehow, he knows what she's doing. He tries not to think of her laughing for someone else, tries to tell himself the acid working through him isn't because of her, tries to concentrate on the trig homework that he'll have to work on tonight. In that one perfect, silent, crystallized moment, he sees the sun's glow, seeping red through his closed eyelids, and he knows he'll have to tell her soon.

I sang along to the song and we coasted home.