Mamacita

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Somehow, I have become the most popular blanco mujer on my block. It happened gradually. First, I made friends with Aivlis (pronounced "Avis"), the seven year old Mexican girl who lives next door to me. We bonded over her cat Diego, who has since disappeared (died?). Then, I met her cousins: Stephanie, Melanie, Christian, Memo and others. One day, I invited Avis into my house to meet Ernesto and Emma. Then Melanie (who is about 3) wanted to pet Emma, though she's a little scared of cats, so I found myself sitting on the front steps with Emma, surrounded by children. Melanie is very cute. I said to her, Beso el gato, and she kissed Emma on the tail. When I say I have to go in, she frequently says, No! Please...(it's one word of English that she seems to know. She typically talks to me in Spanish and I pretend to understand or ask Avis what she has said). After Diego the gato disappeared, Avis' family bought a little boy fuzzy black dog named Moxe. They keep him tied up in the back. He has a swimming pool to play in, but the mom told me that they can't walk him because he hasn't had his shots. I put a chair outside near the wall so that I can peek over and pet him. Now, I've started to buy the dog things--toys and bones--mostly to keep him from barking, which he does incessentantly if not otherwise occupied. Today, Liz took me to Target and I found myself browsing through the dog section. I bought Moxe a bone for $2.99 and gave it to Avis when I got home (she was outside playing when Liz dropped me off). Then I ran to the corner store (also Mexican) and on my way back, I saw that the Mom was the front step. She smiled and said, Thank you. I said, Oh, I always think of the el perro when I'm at the store. Que quiere? She laughed. Is it wrong to be generous because I want them to like me and because I think they'll look after me? Tell the truth.

Comments

Liz said…
Aren't we all nice to people because we want them to like us? This is why it's easy to be mean and rude to those who love us so easily - be they family or those sort of sad, puppy dog types who just want to be near you...

If they're going to love us anyway, why make the effort to be nice?

Or is that just me...
10:31 PM
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