I found an unexpected hour trembling under the black walnut tree next to the hammocks. I carefully picked it up and put it in a jar on the top shelf of the hall closet. Yesterday, I went back to the closet and, standing on tiptoes, I reached for it. The jar came tumbling off the shelf and broke into three pieces. Its contents disappeared instantly as if they had never been. Next time I need to remember to use the stool.
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We are in the middle of graduation season. What to buy, what to buy? A new watch? A belt? Some jewelry?
This year I have lived next door to two recent college graduates which has reminded me of that limbo time of first job when the next step is not clearly defined for the first time. They have borrowed hammers, nails, can openers, spatulas. The one-sided exchanges have been a nice excuse to say hello, and we have been on their side of the exchange many times; one day they will pay it forward. That being said, rather than the beautiful yet impractical engraved pens, they would have been better served by a tool box and a kitchen set when they flipped the tassel to one side of the cap to the other. Here is my working guide to practical graduation gifts. Equally suited to both genders: 1. Hammer, nails, screw driver, small tool box 2. Large soup bowl and chopsticks for Ramon Noodle dinners 3. Can opener 4. First aid kit 5. One paring knife and one big knife 6. Gift card to hardware store 7. A promise of a care package to be sent within six months of graduation 8. A cookbook with easy to find ingredients. (Think pasta, don't think saffron.) Will the recipient of this gift jump up and down? Probably not, but the above gifts keep giving long after the May graduation date. If an explanation is needed, include the following note: "I promise you will soon understand why you need this gift. Let me know when you do." We both agree that there was a boot. One very large boot. We decided, of course, that it had been left there by a giant. When we returned to the same spot, it was no longer there, and we were left holding the memory and a profound sense of mystery.
We both agree that when we fought there would be proclamations that we would never play together again. Five minutes later one of us would cave, lips pouting ridiculously, until the other one giggled and the only choice was to play again. We both agree that we made up our own language that neither one of us understood. We lived next door to each other all those years. Our houses were separated by walls and a couple of doors. We had no other close neighbors; our lives intertwined and overlapped again and again. Nowadays we rarely agree on the past. Our memories focus with double vision on the same childhood. She remembers entire narratives of which I can only hear quiet echos. One says, "always," and the other, "it only happened once." She says black and I say there were polka-dots. In Panama there are several words that exist due to the mixing of English and Spanish. Some comes from the presence of the US in the Canal Zone and some from the influence of Caribbean English. This mixing gives the local Spanish some of my favorite words. Note: most of these will not work outside of Panama.:
Arraijan, a town that is on the Right Hand side of the road after you cross the Canal (remember that the "j" in Spanish is pronounced like the English "h"); Guachimán, watchman; Perijil, which I first thought was named for parsley, but apparently was named Perry's Hill by the Americans, and it stuck. In the same vein is not uncommon for for a man, or woman for that matter, to be described as bien priti = very pretty. If the rubber on your tire gives out then most likely you will told you have a llanta flat even though the expression llanta desinflada exists in Spanish. Just as Kleenex can be used to refer to any facial tissue and not just the one bearing the brand name, Corn Flakes is the catch-all for cold breakfast cereal. Ask for Corn Flakes and you might be served a bowl of Coco Puffs, for example. And, lastly, for some reason, the appropriation of pantyhose, pronounced "pantyhouse" and king-size, pronounce "keen-sigh," for cama king-size holds a special place in my heart. Chiste -¿Por qué se llama cama king-size? -Porque quiere decir ¿quién sabe cuánto cabe? -- pronounce Quién Sabe = King Size |
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