It’s late Monday morning as I write this. I’ve still several hours before my first scheduled shift at Dominick’s begins, and though I’ve spent the morning looking for additional employment online, I need a break. This seems like a good time to share some few odd musings from this past Saturday.
Following my early morning harvesting in the Forest Preserves, I spent the rest of the day in the Elk Grove Village library. Working the job boards, peeking in on Model Mayhem, processing a couple TGO shots – my usual “library time” routine.
The library closes at 5:00 on Saturdays, so I got home around 5:30 that evening. I discovered a birthday party in progress next door. Very festive! Helium filled balloons were tied to the fence with crepe paper streamers strung between. Brightly colored posters & a Pin The Tail on The Donkey game were affixed to the shed in the rear. And a very bright red and yellow, star-shaped piñata was suspended from a rope strung between the shed and their tree in the front of the lot.
About a dozen or so kids from 4 to 14 years old were busy playing in the yard, while parents looked on and chatted quietly. Amongst other things, I could smell ribs cooking over charcoal, and the entire neighborhood could hear the salsa playing on the radio. A very happy scene…
The couch in my living room is situated next to the window overlooking their yard. This is where I sit when the light’s good enough to read by. The sill is wide enough to hold a coffee mug or can of soda and more days than not there’s a lovely breeze making for a very comfortable little reading “nook.”
Saturday evening I settled in with one of my favorite authors (Anne McCaffrey if it matters) and opened one of her many Pern novels. I didn’t get very far, though – the party next door was a happy & noisy one and I just couldn’t concentrate for more than a sentence or two.
After a while I gave it up and watched the kids playing in the yard, smiling at times – laughing at others. At one point one of the kids tripped while running & fell onto their sidewalk, and like the parents, I sat up a little straighter and was relieved to see him get up, only his pride injured – and that not badly.
My neighbors are from Mexico, and do not speak English – or at least not very much. It’s been way too many years since my last high school Spanish class, so we don’t speak often, or at all if I want to be completely honest here. Oh, we’re friendly enough – we nod hello in the mornings or evenings getting in or out of our cars, but language is definitely a barrier to any meaningful conversation.
But I digress…
I got to see the kids race around, playing Pin The Tail On The Donkey, Musical Chairs with hot, hot, hot salsa and even have sack races using tall kitchen can bags. Smiles & laughter were very definitely the order of the day.
All the while, the birthday boy’s father was manning the grill. Every few minutes or so he’d pull another short slab of ribs off the grill, cut them up into individual ribs and call out to the kids to come fix their plates…
When the sun started going down, it was time to start on the piñata. The kids all lined up to take turns, with the birthday boy’s mother at the front of the line with blindfold & stick ready. Dad got the ladder from the shed and started working the rope, raising & lowering the piñata at odd intervals, and the kids got started.
Each kid got to take 5 or 6 swings at the piñata, surrendering stick & blindfold to the next in line when it didn’t break & then going back to the end of the line to await their next turn. I lost count how many times the line changed over, but I’d say each of the kids got at least 4 maybe 5 turns at busting the piñata…
I was particularly impressed with how cheerful the kids were – especially when they failed to bust open the piñata. My cousins and I were never so cheerful when we failed so publicly at any task…
It took a good hour or so, but eventually the piñata was broken open and the candy came pouring out to the ground. All the kids mobbed the area, laughter and shrieks of joy drowned the radio’s salsa as the candy scramble began…
By this time it was well and truly dark & definitely time for me to fire up my Coleman Lantern and see about heating up a couple hot dogs for my own dinner. I was still chuckling at the kids antics as I sat down at the kitchen table to fire up my lantern.
My lantern’s got a few miles on it, so it can be a little tricky to get going. Once it’s fired up everything it works just fine, but getting it properly lit takes a bit of patience. The mantles were just beginning to glow when somebody knocked on my front door.
I cussed under my breath as I shut down the lantern’s fuel supply. Opening my door I found the birthday boy’s mother on my porch with two cans of pop & a plate of BBQ ribs. She’d brought along one of the other mothers along to translate who told me Jesus (the birthday boy) had seen me laughing & smiling at all the kids and thought it was only right that I get to share in his “Special Dinner” too…
I don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised or dumbfounded in my life. Nor so touched. I thanked both young ladies for the thoughtfulness, and tried to refuse the offering, but they weren’t having any of that. They simply smiled at me, set the plate & soda on my porch and walked away, waving & smiling all the while…
I brought the food & drinks in, set them on my table and sat there in the dark while tears rolled down my cheeks. I don’t believe I’ve ever been on the receiving end of such an act of kindness from what amounts to complete strangers before.
It was a good 20 minutes or longer before I noticed I was still sitting in the dark, and when I did, wonder of wonders, the lantern fired right up, just as if it were new out of the box. The ribs, by the way, were excellent, as was the ear of corn, the tamales & the two cans of pop they brought me…
I was even more bemused when my cell phone rang and I saw it was my friend Rachel calling. When I answered she told me I needed to email her my resume – she knew of a position opening up and thought perhaps I might be an ideal candidate for the job… We spent the next 45 minutes chatting, mostly about the job she knew of but also about Model Mayhem & her most recent shoot, but mostly about the job.
For the second time in less than an hour, I was well & truly gob smacked. So, no great moral lesson or point to be made here. No weighty issues to discuss or consider. Just my own reaction to being on the receiving end of two very thoughtful and considerate actions within an hour. A very great rarity in my life…
Oh, yes. I emailed my resume off just as soon as I could get this laptop in range of a WIFI signal Sunday morning… I am SO crossing my fingers!
Until next time, friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment