THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WELL

Chapter 12 – page 22

The bird got down from it’s perch and in one stride was upon Julio, over shadowing him. “Bienvenidos, tu y tu mama!” said the McCaw. (Welcome, you and your mom) Well Julio knew enough to know that Granma wasn’t his mom, but what could he say? He’d have to try to fill in the blanks and talk to him the best he could. “Ven aca!” said the bird. He knew what that meant : come here, or in this case, follow me. The bird led him into a dining area with four long tables splendidly decked out with white table cloths, red berry centerpieces, silverware and red plates. The McCaw swept his feathered arm widely and said, “Mi casa es tu casa” as he bowed. Julio was amazed at the ‘ole grump; maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. “Vey a traer a tu mama para comer,” said the bird. Well, Julio knew the words vey, mama & comer. So he could figure out pretty much that the bird said, go, mama, eat. He put his hands together on the right side of his face, tilting his head and said: “dormiendo.” ~ which means sleeping. “Ahhhh!” said the bird, “esta bien.” Then, so Julio wouldn’t have to try to make more conversation with the ‘ole coot, he said, “Voy, con permiso,” (go, with permission) and he ran to wake up Granma. Muff bounded after him. (con permiso is a polite way to excuse yourself)

Julio had only been gone about a half hour, but Granma had slept so deeply and peacefully that she said she felt like she had been asleep for hours. “Come on Granma,” said J pulling on her arm. “That big McCaw showed me a room with long tables and said to go and get you to eat!. Julio was always hungry, like I said. And he thinks you are my mom,” said J. “Well I am flattered,” said G, “for 129, not looking too bad, huh?” “Well, we will just have to go straighten him out,” said G. “Be careful,” says J, “he’s kind of a grump, but he speaks Spanish. I heard something like Chinese too, though,” said J.

So Granma got up and fixed her hair; they hadn’t brushed their teeth in a coon’s age now. Her overalls were getting pretty dirty and wrinkled, even torn in one place. She went to the little bathroom and what to her surprise! There were not only towels, wash rags and soap, but a toothbrush and toothpaste. She called Julio in after she had done the honors, splashing cold water on her face.

Julio brushed his teeth too. There were five toothbrushes, five towels, 5 wash rags, and five pink bars of soap. She put some water on Hoo’s hair and slicked it back some so that he would look dastardly and cool. Then they headed down the stairs. G followed J to the below water level, white room. They tied da Muff up outside the door with some burlap twine J had in his pocket so she wouldn’t cause a ruckus.