People would almost audibly gasp when they saw him. "What a beautiful child," they would breathe. And, he was beautiful. Features that were softly sharp, a ready laugh and a gentle will surrounded by - when Mom would let his hair grow - soft, golden curls. We called him Davey; later he would be Dave-Bave, then finally, Dave.
Davey was the second boy, the fourth child, the quiet, smart danger. My parents were almost always on the alert for me and my little brother, Jimmy. My sister, Cindy, was fascinated by our antics. But Davey flew under their radar most of the time, and had a mind of his own with a penchant for dismantling things. He would watch things just to see how they worked. He looked so innocent, standing or sitting there. You had to watch closely to see him mentally taking apart the process of the egg beater or the vacuum. He was fascinated by moving parts.
Davey loved to laugh and creating situations for him to laugh at was one of my favorite activities. I absolutely loved to hear him giggle. It started way down in his belly, moved to his chest and gurgled into his mouth. Sometimes he'd laugh so hard he'd turn red. I inevitably got in trouble for that, unless Mom saw him start to laugh. She loved it too. We'd all start laughing, just because Davey was laughing.
Of course, there was a flip side... David was a cry baby. A bona fide cry baby. As easy as it was to make him laugh, it was even easier to make him cry. All any of us had to do was take away a toy, interrupt his concentration or sound cross. Davey loved a peaceable kingdom, and those moments were rare when I was 5 or 6. So, he spent a lot of time crying, which he eventually outgrew.
But, he never outgrew his fascination with how things worked - birds, guns, natural phenomenon, any thing. His mind locked up knowledge and stored it in a "to be determined" file and mentally downloaded it when he needed it. It was riveting to watch him connect the dots on something. He'd cock his head to one side, set his jaw and move forward, eyes sparkling. If you weren't watching for those inconspicuous behaviors, it was likely that you'd miss them. But if you saw them, you knew that something was about to happen. David was frequently the instigator, as well as the culprit. He sometimes got credit for the "assist" without the flourish of the slam dunk. And yet, he was usually able to rally his comrades around some crazy idea and quietly help them implement the plan.
As Dave grew, his fascination with his environment grew. He analyzed, compared, imagined, remembered and scrutinized the things that fascinated him. He started his post-high school career in science. His grad work was law school. Yet, he's not the "lawyer" type, if there is such a thing. He still has the mental energy of that captivated child - just with adult parameters. He still loves to invent ways to do things and to get other people involved in schemes that are especially grand. And he still cocks his head, sets his jaw and moves forward into life, taking that "to be determined" file with him into the next adventure.
