Catherine Gigante-Brown
Belly Laugh
My son’s first belly laugh happened
in the most unsuspecting place.
It was in a very poor country,
which some might call a shithole
but it is rich in warm memories for me.
David was only five months old
when I stood in the buffet line
at a small hotel
in San Jose, Santo Domingo,
trying to balance my baby
on my shoulder
as I navigated breakfast.
Suddenly,
I felt sure, gentle hands
lifting my child
from my shoulder;
it wasn’t my husband
but a stranger.
The woman who worked
at the reception desk
had seen my balancing act
and came to my rescue.
Although she said, “Permisso”
it was more a statement
than a question
as she took my baby from me.
Grateful for her small act of compassion,
I ate breakfast with my husband in peace
then went to check on my child.
Even before I arrived,
I heard their laughter.
Behind the front desk,
the kind hotel receptionist
was tossing my child
high into the air,
catching him
and laughing herself.
She did this
over and over again.
The higher David flew,
the more he laughed.
My baby was giggling
uncontrollably
from deep in his belly
with someone he didn’t know.
I almost wept at my son’s pure joy
and from being able to eat a meal
uninterrupted
for the first time since David was born.
Sometimes you find
beauty and kindness
in the most unexpected places.
Sometimes they may look
broken and battered
from the outside
but are so exquisite
within.
Catherine Gigante-Brown is the author of the novels The El (2012), The Bells of Brooklyn (2017), Different Drummer (2015), and Better than Sisters (2019), all published by Volossal. Her poems have appeared in Ravishly, Art & Understanding, and Downtown Express, among other journals, as well as in the anthologies Eternal Snow: A Worldwide Anthology of One Hundred Twenty Five Poetic Intersections with Himalayan Poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma (Nirala Publications, 2017), edited by David B. Austell and Kathleen D. Gallagher, and the Brownstone Poets 2018 Anthology (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018), edited by Patricia Carragon. Gigante-Brown is a current and lifelong Brooklynite.
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