Saturday, January 03, 2009

Pedazos

You see some girls walk in and introduce themselves to one another. A table and another handshake is shared with strangers. Elsewhere, someone has a photo of you and a friend, taken at a party, in which you appear bonita and he will bring it in to show you, cuando vas a trabajar? lunes, martes, y despues, viajo al otro estado. Me lleva(?) Conjugation of the verb "llevar." No. Porque no? Porque...viajo solita. Ok. Despues, less smiling. Porque? Remember, years back, a girl in a brown hooded jacket (so nice to hide in, like a monk's habit. Cowl.) in a bookshop in Amsterdam. A boy up to her, hey hey, I like your style. What country are you from? I have a friend who owns a Subway, hey do you want to come out to a club. Girl: I'm READING. Boy: Ok. I just wanted to see if you wanted to go to the Subway! Leaving her staring at him with an open mouth, wanting to pull him back to her and just explain, if only he didn't run off so quickly. Like then, now. A small lever of misery pressing on the heart. (Bitter, self-critical thought: why do you do that? porque soy una bitch. No.) Walk back, be brave, open mouth. Que tal tu chamba. Bien. And how is yours. Aburrida. No estoy haciendo nada. Quieres trabajar aqui? Si. Okay. Ven aqui. Un ratito. Ok. Que puedo hacer en la cocina. You can get rid of that water. How? Push it. With this. No not like that. Push down harder. You have to push it all the way to the end, see, where Chino is standing. Ah! What is that? A burning receipt on the floor. What are you doing? Oh my god, don't set the kitchen on fire. We need it. That is not okay to do in those shoes. Here give it back to me. Later a girl is down on the floor. Una chica esta enferma. What? What kind of language is that? Where did you learn that? Es...castellano! Aprendi un poquito in Peru. What did you say? Una chica! Una mujer. Una mujer joven. You mean, una senorita? Yes. Okay. Some people say, I think she just passed out. SAD. What was wrong? You wouldn't have known, if you hadn't asked, that she also had cancer and was bald and wore a wig. A member of the nice hand-shaking girl crew hovered over her on the stretcher, murmuring supportively and wagging fingers over her eyes.

No comments: