11 Minutes
By: Stephanie Gruner Buckley
Tags: Technology, Toddlers, Distraction, iPhone, Parenting

Photo by Igor Starkov on Unsplash

Minute 1: They’re in the corner of a coffee shop. A dad and his two-year-old son. The boy is awkwardly perched on a chair. The dad looks at his iPhone. The boy slips down from the chair and toddles to his father, grabbing a pant leg. The dad smiles affectionately and looks back at his phone.

Minute 2: A young man with a tattoo on his forearm that says Live and Let Live brings the dad a coffee and the boy a muffin. He kneels, eye-level with the boy, and says, “Need a lift?” The boy smiles and nods. The young man picks him up and perches him back on his chair.

Minute 3: The boy chews his muffin. He has crumbs on his face. He smiles at his dad and says, “Smuffin good Daddy!” in a moment that will never be again.

Minute 4: A young woman pushes a baby carriage up the wooden ramp to the front door of the coffee shop. The bell on the door rings as she opens it, and the young man behind the counter races over to help. The baby carriage is too wide to fit through the door. The young man suggests leaving it outside. The woman whispers that her baby is asleep. “We can leave the door open,” he says. The woman parks the carriage just outside and takes a seat by the window. Her back is to the front door. If she stands, she can look through the window and see her baby sleeping in the carriage.

Minute 5: It’s a glorious spring day. A cool breeze blows, picking petals off a cherry blossom tree. If you listen carefully, you can hear birds singing through the incessant din of traffic passing close to the ramp leading to the coffee shop door.

Minute 6: The boy is piling muffin crumbs into small hills. “Don’t play with your food,” says his dad. The boy grabs some packets of sugar and pushes them around the table. His dad, a patient man, places them back in the dish.

Minute 7: The boy slips out of his chair and looks up at his dad. The father looks at him for a second. “Don’t go anywhere,” he says lightly like it’s a joke. The boy takes one uncertain step away from the table and looks at his dad again. The young mother eyes the pair of them in the corner. She rises to check on her baby and finds her still fast asleep. She sits back down, sips her latte, and pulls a phone from her purse. She looks again at the father and son. The boy is just one step away from his dad. He’s still close enough for the father to reach out and grab him if he takes another step. The young woman opens her Instagram account on her phone.

Minute 8: An elderly man on a rolling walker, aided by a nurse, enters the shop. Winded by the effort of getting up the ramp, he shakes his head and smiles at the young man behind the counter. “Never get old,” he jokes. The young man laughs. The nurse helps the man into a chair. The toddler takes another uncertain step away from his father.

Minute 9: The young woman takes a selfie, showing herself, her latte, and her baby carriage through the window. She writes “Morning Bliss” and posts it on Instagram. The nurse orders a cappuccino and a decaf coffee with goat’s milk. “Let me see what I can do,” says the young man. He goes into a back room to look for goat’s milk. The nurse returns to the table and takes the elderly man’s walker.

Minute 10: The boy is standing in the shop doorway. No one notices him. A fresh breeze caresses his face and lifts the dark curls off his forehead. He squints into the sun. He looks so happy. The young man is still searching for goat’s milk. The walker is sticking, making it hard to close. The nurse curses under her breath as she fiddles with the handle. The dad frowns at something on his phone, swipes his finger across the screen, and then looks up, alarmed, to see his son isn’t there.

Minute 11: Heart in mouth, the father races across the shop toward the door, but it feels like he’s moving in slow motion. Now everyone sees the boy, shrieking with glee, as he races down the ramp toward the street. The boy is one step from the edge of the curb. The dad is too far away. A driver slams his horn and his breaks at the same time. No one can hear the birds anymore.

In the time it takes to click another news item, take a selfie, or add a clever post to Instagram, life as we know it can disappear.

But then the boy, miraculously, stops. He’s momentarily distracted by a cherry blossom petal spinning lazily overhead. He leaps up and claps the petal between his hands. As he does, his dad catches him. The man embraces and kisses his son. He hears birds singing.