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I
can't believe what happened today! I was
at the mall with my Auntie Linda, shopping
for shoes. You see, she doesn't drive and
she also hardly speaks English. Auntie
Linda speaks Cantonese Chinese so does my
mom, though my mom also speaks English. I
don't speak Chinese. I know a few phrases
like aieeee-yah ("Oh no!"),
sic fahn ("dinner time"),
mho tie gam dol deen
see ("don't watch so much TV!"),
and mho gong gam dol deen
wah ("don't talk so much on the
phone!"), but because I have been around
Chinese speaking people all my life, I can
mostly understand when she and my mom talk
to each other. (Unless they don't
want me to understand, then
they speak in some weird Cantonese accent
and then I don't have a clue!) With me,
Auntie Linda speaks more slowly than she
does with my mom. Also, she uses hand
gestures, sound effects and wild facial
expressions. I swear she'd be great as one
of those sign language interpreters for
the deaf. She's got a really expressive
face and she never stops moving her hands
even when she's armed with chopsticks! If
someone didn't understand one word of what
Auntie Linda was saying, they could
probably figure it out. She and I get
along really well. I kinda of think of her
as my grandmother, since my real one died
in China years before I was born. Auntie
Linda has a picture of my grandmother,
taken in 1922 on a trip to her sister's
wedding in Shanghai. The woman in the
picture looks just like Auntie Linda, lots
younger of course, but you can definitely
see the resemblance. Anyway, Auntie Linda
and I were in the mall. She likes the
cinnamon croissants they sell at Shaky
Grounds, that gourmet coffee shop. And I
love de-caf mochas. It's kinda funny
because she's probably the only person I
know who hates coffee but loves coffee
shops anyway. Because of her Chinese
heritage she's a tea drinker, of course,
but she thinks the tea they serve at that
place tastes like perfume water. In fact,
the one time she ordered some "Orange
Blossom Spice" she spit it out! But she
did dab a little on the underside of each
wrist. And every once in a while, during
that afternoon, she would sniff her wrists
and smile and nod.
After
we bought the shoes Auntie Linda and I
were enjoying our snack at Shaky Grounds.
I was just thinking about the name of the
place and picturing some guy shaking up
coffee grounds and also that expression
"Being on shaky ground..." which I think
means something like: you're not sure
where you stand with a person. And just
then Chaz appears. I felt really weird,
especially because of what he said about
my idea for the play and the way he looked
at me right after he said it. But he was
very friendly, like he wanted to talk. And
Auntie Linda started talking to him,
really loud and fast, but of course he
didn't understand what was going on and I
felt really embarrassed. I was thinking it
sure would be nice to have a normal family
for a change, but you know what? Chaz just
smiled at her, really sweetly. And she
smiled and patted his hand. It was
amazing! Then she kinda pushed me so that
I should go off and talk to Chaz in
private! Then she pulled out her Chinese
newspaper and just smiled and waved
goodbye to us.
As
soon as we walked out of the coffee shop,
Chaz told me that he had lied when he said
my idea for the play sucked. He said, he
really liked my idea and that he was just
being weird. Then he apologized! I told
him, that for someone who is always
talking about how phony everybody else is,
he should practice telling the truth more.
And he said, "You're right. That's why I
wanted to talk to you." Then he asked me
if I forgave him. And he looked at me in a
really sad and hopeful way. It made me
feel powerful and weak at the same time. I
told him I forgave him. He said, "Thanks!"
and then he said he had to go. I walked
back to the coffee place and let me tell
you something, after that conversation
with Chaz, I really felt like I
was on Shaky
Grounds.
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