Conclusion

3:30 pm
Drizzle

I didn’t get back to see Ilma and her brothers. I felt really bad about that. I had made a promise. I called Ilma’s teacher and asked her how the rest of the day went.

“Did you know they count to ten in Guatemala just like we do?”

I almost started to laugh, and then I realized she was serious. They told the teacher that Ilma couldn’t speak English. She couldn’t. Yet, sometime that day, Ilma, in an effort to show the teacher she knew something must have counted to ten to her as she had done for me.

As I was hanging up the phone, another teacher told me she needed to speak to me.

“I had two years of Spanish in college. I don’t remember a word. Well, you know, adios, taco, burrito, stuff like that. Now, about Gustavo, he’s been here six weeks already and isn’t speaking any English. What is wrong with him? I think we need to test him for Special Ed. Don’t you.”

“No, I told her. “Let’s give him some time.”

Another teacher stopped me in the hall and asked how everything was.

“Just fine,” I told her.

“It must be so boring. Flipping flashcards all day Dog. Cat. This is a pencil. This is a desk. You must have the most monotonous job in the world. “

If you only knew I thought . If you only knew.