The sound came on suddenly and in rapid succession. It was startling, like gunshots would be on a quiet night, and yet I knew it wasn’t an evil or terrifying sound but his laugh!

As quickly as the sharp staccato of the laughter escaped his body, he sucked in a raspy lung full of air before letting loose again.

Knowing now, that this sound emanated due to hilarity, I could more easily be moved by his raucous amusement. If I didn’t know what was happening, I might have mistook this sound as a sneeze or a cough. How perplexing that it was his laugh! I started to giggle myself.

His face turned pink and then red and I felt the need to remind him to breathe, as one would tell a child having a tantrum. And even that seemed funny to me, and then I was laughing just as hard as he was.