a jeepney scene from across my seat

A wide-eyed baby boy, an older sister, an aunt, a mom and a doting grandma ---
On his mom’s lap, the dark-eyed boy looked on in wonder to anything that moved,
anything’s that bright…
and I watched him watched the blinding red light where my head rest
against the steel beam of the jeepney.

He hardly blinked.
I counted…one, two, three…. 15 seconds passed before
his eyelids covered his big black eyes and
his long lashes covered the top of his white chubby cheeks.

He grabbed the Jollibee mask from his grandma
awed at the plastic and the string…
testing it for it’s tensile strength, he tried ripping
it apart with his little baby fists.
His sister dismayed, told him to stop torturing Jollibee.
He pulled on the strings instead.

Auntie held on to sister making sure she doesn’t fall
from the seat when the jeepney hit a pothole.
Sister put on a Jollibee mask, she has been holding,
the rest of the way home…
Grandma saw sister and smiled with pleasure…
and took the Jollibee mask from baby boy and wore it
to the delight of the black-eyed baby boy.
He rewarded grandma with a toothless grin.

And I delight at the scene before me.