I was backing the car out of the garage when the door from the kitchen flung open. Maria threw her little Miss Kitty bag over her shoulder as she signaled for me to wait. A second later she was in the backseat directly behind me. She surprised me when I turned around and asked her , "Is your Mama coming?" and she answered, "no".
I was thrilled to think she would be comfortable enough to leave her Mom and come for a ride with me all by herself. She is only 10 years old, speaks primarily Spanish, and this was her very first trip to the USA.
I backed out of the garage and onto the street and away we went - destination the "Redbox". She hummed a song to herself on the way up to the store and I asked her if there was anything like "Redbox" in Spain. She said there isn't, but by the time we reached the big red vending machine, she and I had decided it would be a fantastic idea for her to open a Spanish "Bluebox" or a machine similar to "Redbox" with some other creative name in her own home city of Madrid. Really, doesn't every city need such a wonderful DVD dispensing machine?
We rushed to get up there by 9PM in order to return the movie, "War Horse" . When we jumped out of the car we could feel the "Redbox" calling and Maria and I knew we just had to answer. Using both English and then Spanish, we pensively searched the colorful collection of available DVDs on the screen before us. Maria settled on another horse-themed movie and we both felt happy and satisfied that we were not going back home empty-handed.
I felt much more than that. I felt the realization that I had fallen in love with this special little girl who until less than two weeks before had been a virtual stranger to me.
Mary Beth
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment