  He Only Stumbled The once placid movie line erupted into a commotion in a single second. The boy was with his mother, father, and sister, who was a little older. They were waiting on a line to get into the theatre to buy tickets to a movie. The theatre was at the bottom floor of a building on the grounds of the outdoor mall at 161st street and Grand Concourse. The movie line extended from the glass doors leading into the theatre to the escalators that led the up to the food court.
Right across from the theatre doors were a set of double doors that led to a back entrance into the building. People used this space to appease their cigarette cravings. The stranger had stood there for about ten minutes, smoking a cigarette in the doorway, watching the people walk by. He was six feet tall and portly. He had a slouch about him that accentuated the size of his back. He was wearing a hat that looked like something a fly fisher would wear, the type that fit snug on the top of your head and had a ruffled brim all around. He also had a long coat on. His protruding waist didn’t allow the coat to fit very well along his thighs; instead it hung loosely at the bottom.
He started walking over to the line. The mother of the two children was talking to the father about what movie she wanted to see. He wasn’t facing her; he was watching an attractive younger woman walk by seductively. Suddenly, the overweight stranger came dashing from behind and smothered the child with his momentum. The mother shouted, “Oh my God!” The father aggressively leapt into action, he pulled the stranger off and pressed him against the wall. The father was noticeably smaller than the stranger, but despite his size, his ferocious aggression seemed to overpower the meek stranger. It was clear now that both parents thought that the stranger had made an attempt to attack or even abduct their son. “I tripped, I swear, I tripped,” the stranger attempted to reason with the father. He was very embarrassed. The father’s grip on the strangers gray coat sagged. “Fuck man, what the fuck…” he said, as he let him go. The child started to cry. “Look motherfucker, you have to watch where you fuckin’ go, you piece of shit,” the father shouted. The mother tugged on her husband’s arm, and he slowly started to back away. The stranger slouched away from the wall that he was being pressed against.
“I tripped on the hole in the tiling of the floor, I swear.” The stranger apologized, “I’m sorry, I really am.” His face was old. The wrinkles looked like those of a man that had lived a lengthy life. The daughter had been silent the entire time, she was just watching, wide-eyed, with her mouth gaping open. The entire movie line had gathered around now. All of their eyes were on the stranger. “Here, you alright, little man?” The stranger stepped forward to make sure the boy wasn’t hurt, but the mother didn’t indulge him; she hugged her child and turned her back to the stranger, protectively.
“Why don’t you just fuckin' get lost,” the father suggested, almost like a threat. The crowd grew silent, except for the boy’s sobbing. Then, the stranger, with beads of sweat rolling down his forehead slowly put his hands in his coat pockets, turned away, and walked out the back door. The mother continued to console her child. The father looked off down the hallway saying, “He’ll be alright; he’s a guy. No big deal.” 
