Like Mona Lisa

How then to explain the smile? It leapt unbidden from a neutral countenance, in a setting most inappropriate for smiling. Was it in response to a scene through the window? Perhaps the thought of secret love? Maybe the remembrance of an exquisite dinner savored with friends? The recall of a conversation with a now-departed loved one? Or best of all, a flicker of unbridled joy pushing through the confines of decorum, an eruption of human spirit so glad to be alive that it cannot be suppressed by normal means?

It brightened the room, that smile. As out of place as a flower in a battlefield, it nevertheless filled the space, altered it, infused it with a sweetness previously unthinkable. I think she was unaware she was smiling. That is, until everyone in attendance began unwittingly to smile back. Gathering momentum like a storm, it quickly became a chuckle here, a giggle there, and soon a full-on gale of laughter so spontaneous, so pure and so unexpected that it was many moments before order could be fully restored. Not like it had been, though. No, it was refreshed as well. Still, the source of her smile remains a mystery.