Beatrice...

Sometimes I remember the laughter of my friend E.S. And it is always connected to something. "Tito!, all girls will love you", and I was, imitating Michael Richards' Cosmo Kramer, "well, not necessarily". And E.S. was a burst of laugh. We once watched A Clockwork Orange -an already 40-year-old movie!- and he was amused by the British accent. There is this scene when Alex (I think his name was Alex) is brought back to home from the hospital -already turned into a monster- and his mum asked him: "Son, how are you, son? Would you like to have a cup of tea?". And here it came E.S.'s laughter: for a month he was making declamatory efforts: "Tito! Would you like a cup of tea, son?".

And I also remember him laughing whenever we watched Richard Pryor tapes. That man was the man, man. In a gag about the different attitudes of white and black, he was making remarks about the different walk styles. And E.S., a black, and a true friend, was a burst of energetic, vital laughter.

**

I have found interesting all the entries in my Longman Activator about the word "walk". I would like to drop a couple of examples here, as I might memorize as I type them and perhaps I can practice a little tomorrow, before I forget...:

To walk slowly in a relaxed way
Stroll: to walk in a slow and relaxed way, especially for pleasure.
Amble: to walk in a slow and relaxed way, especially when you are going a short distance or not going anywhere in particular.
Saunter: to walk in a slow and lazy way, often when you should be hurrying to do something.

To walk slowly because you are tired
Trudge/Plod: to walk slowly and with heavy steps, especially because you are tired, it is difficult to walk, or you don't want to go somewhere.
Traipse: to walk a long way, especially when you are looking for something or visiting different places, so that you become tired.

To walk slowly because you are in pain or weak
Hobble: to walk with difficulty because it is painful for you to walk.
Limp: to walk with difficulty because you hurt one of your legs.
Shuffle: to walk slowly and noisily, without your feet off the ground properly.
Shamble: to walk slowly and rather awkwardly, bending forward  in a tired or lazy way.

Example: Last night I strolled the open space, its tranquility and white beauty; my heart, relaxed, ambled along, at ease. Down on Earth, I imagined gentiles and men of action sauntering, women plodding their lives in silence, old men trudging scared to death, and the disposessed traipsing the gutters of the world in the hope of bumping into an opportunity. But up there, grace was with me, and peace was in plenitude. No more hobbling; no more limping. The normal throbs of the heart were away; instead, a clear and pure beat, the only shuffling was that of the interestelar wind. I only wished for any men on Earth to come up for a second and shamble down on Earth and pray with me.

Do you still think I should have showed up?... No, I don't think so.