johnny's life passed him by like a warm summer day
There's this girl I know, you never know what she's thinking, even though everybody thinks they know this girl. You look at her face, but that doesn't tell you anything. Sometimes you know you don't know what's going on inside. Sometimes you're not sure you don't know. I wonder about this girl. Here's what I've noticed.
She's about the laughingest person you're liable to meet, if you live forever. Nothing but sets her off laughing. You could tell her you were flunking every course and about to be booted out of school and into the unemployment lines, and she'd laugh. She'd laugh until you might start laughing too. You could tell her you just got elected president of your class, and captain of the football team and Prince Charming all at once and you know that she'd do- she'd laugh. Everywhere she goes it's nothing but laugh, laugh, until you feel like you're caught out in a rainstorm that won't never end. But I keep finding her crying when she thinks nobody's there to see. I catch her. And when I ask her, "Honey, why you cryin so bad?" she never says one word to tell me. I stand there, passing out the Kleenex, and she's whooping and wailing and there's nothing can stop her once she's started.
Another thing. She's always talking about you. Not behind your back, but right when you're having your conversation. "How are you, and what do you think, and what do you like?" She's mighty easy to talk with, this girl, because she's always interested in the other person. She listens and she remembers and she'll ask you, two years later, "Remember that fight you had with your father about your allowance? Do you still feel the same way?" I guess she's about the most unselfish person I know. But inside, she's always thinking about herself, patting herself on the back for being a caring, remembering person. She's got about the longest arms you'll ever see for patting herself on the back. So while you're telling her this sad, beautiful love story, and you're saying everything you feel-but everything- she's listening so hard you feel like she's curled up inside your own head and you think there never was such a person for listening to you. All the time, part of her's wondering if she's ever been in love or if she ever will be, and how it'll be for her, and she's thinking how great you think she is. This girl is just about something, and I sometimes wonder if even she knows what's going on.
To see her, she's got all the answers. Everybody else has trouble making up their minds. Should I do this? Do i want to wear that? Is it the right answer? Not this girl, she just knows the heart out of everything and everybody. She doesn't hesitate, she just puts her big feet out in front of her and gets going. And worry? That's a word this girl never heard of. It's not in her dictionary. She knows north from south, and she knows which way she wants to go. No regrets, not for her. If she makes a mistake- well she's made a mistake and so what? Confident, you'd call her, and for all you know you're one hundred percent right, there wasn't anybody since the Garden of Eden as confident. But I've seen her do her hair one way then brush it out and do it another. I've seen her sit in one chair and then in another and then move to a bench and finally sit on the ground until she hopped up to sit in the chair she tried first. I've seen her tear up ten starts on homework papers and only hand one in because she ran out of time to rip it up in.
And all the time this girl's listening and laughing, all the same. I'm watching her and I don't know what she's thinking, and then I'm thinking, Maybe I do.
She's about the laughingest person you're liable to meet, if you live forever. Nothing but sets her off laughing. You could tell her you were flunking every course and about to be booted out of school and into the unemployment lines, and she'd laugh. She'd laugh until you might start laughing too. You could tell her you just got elected president of your class, and captain of the football team and Prince Charming all at once and you know that she'd do- she'd laugh. Everywhere she goes it's nothing but laugh, laugh, until you feel like you're caught out in a rainstorm that won't never end. But I keep finding her crying when she thinks nobody's there to see. I catch her. And when I ask her, "Honey, why you cryin so bad?" she never says one word to tell me. I stand there, passing out the Kleenex, and she's whooping and wailing and there's nothing can stop her once she's started.
Another thing. She's always talking about you. Not behind your back, but right when you're having your conversation. "How are you, and what do you think, and what do you like?" She's mighty easy to talk with, this girl, because she's always interested in the other person. She listens and she remembers and she'll ask you, two years later, "Remember that fight you had with your father about your allowance? Do you still feel the same way?" I guess she's about the most unselfish person I know. But inside, she's always thinking about herself, patting herself on the back for being a caring, remembering person. She's got about the longest arms you'll ever see for patting herself on the back. So while you're telling her this sad, beautiful love story, and you're saying everything you feel-but everything- she's listening so hard you feel like she's curled up inside your own head and you think there never was such a person for listening to you. All the time, part of her's wondering if she's ever been in love or if she ever will be, and how it'll be for her, and she's thinking how great you think she is. This girl is just about something, and I sometimes wonder if even she knows what's going on.
To see her, she's got all the answers. Everybody else has trouble making up their minds. Should I do this? Do i want to wear that? Is it the right answer? Not this girl, she just knows the heart out of everything and everybody. She doesn't hesitate, she just puts her big feet out in front of her and gets going. And worry? That's a word this girl never heard of. It's not in her dictionary. She knows north from south, and she knows which way she wants to go. No regrets, not for her. If she makes a mistake- well she's made a mistake and so what? Confident, you'd call her, and for all you know you're one hundred percent right, there wasn't anybody since the Garden of Eden as confident. But I've seen her do her hair one way then brush it out and do it another. I've seen her sit in one chair and then in another and then move to a bench and finally sit on the ground until she hopped up to sit in the chair she tried first. I've seen her tear up ten starts on homework papers and only hand one in because she ran out of time to rip it up in.
And all the time this girl's listening and laughing, all the same. I'm watching her and I don't know what she's thinking, and then I'm thinking, Maybe I do.