Books and Blacksmiths

Our beautiful Marcy-o.

I got up early this morning and pumped water and prepped breakfast before Krista got up.  I sat at the table listening to a BBC story about Las Vegas, drinking instant MacCoffee, and slashing greens, when Marcy stuck her head in the door.  “Morning-o, RB,” she smiled shyly.  “Can I have the book?”  I wanted to jump up and shout, “YES!”  But instead I said she’d have to wait until I was done.

Ten minutes later I took the Dr. Seuss books out on the porch.  The kids eagerly lined up on the bench and I started reading A Fly Went By because I remembered how much my brother David liked it.  They couldn’t have agreed more!  By the time Krista was up we were just about finished so I went to make breakfast.  Mediocre.  Afterwards I poked my head out and asked if they wanted another story.  We read Go, Dog! Go! and Marcy all but climbed in my lap.  They loved it.  I don’t know who taught them this, but they even repeated back everything I read and it was adorable.  It reminded me of my Sundays in Kakata out on the porch with my family.

After Go, Dog! Go! they still wanted more so we read Are you my Mother? (yes, with them still parroting everything back).  Then we went back to Go, Dog! Go! and just looked at the pictures, practicing colors, sizes, etc.  Marcy and Grandma are going to be my new best friends.  I can tell.

By 10:30 it was time to stop playing and go to town.  We dropped off some eggplants at a friend’s house and went to see our principal.  He opened the library for us and I was surprised to find some good books.  I took one to read and four or five for class.  After lunch I wanted to go back for the coalpot so we did and… wow… that was an experience.

Yesterday’s group of men was replaced with half a dozen boys under 16 swinging hammers and dismantling rusty car doors.  I haggled with the kid and paid $300 LD for a good one and a piece of zinc to use for baking.  “I should put it together?” he asked.  “Sure,” I said, expecting him to put the top on the bottom and send me away.  Twenty to thirty deafening minutes later it was done.  Wow, I was impressed.

One boy was making nails out of scraps while another salvaged through a rusty heap.  The boy who seemed to be in charge rapped on my coal pot while another, age maybe seven or eight, held it and feigned fear, sneaking glances over his shoulder to see if I was watching.  “Oh!  Oww!!”

It is heavy-o!  I carried it halfway home then went African and put it on my head.  Huge improvement!  But, boy, we drew some attention.  It was like they’d never seen a white woman with a coal pot on her head!  Our neighbor was supposed to take us to look at furniture but he never came home so I played frisbee and danced with the kids.  A white man went by on the back of a pen-pen and I did the most obvious rubber neck right as the frisbee came at me.  Oops.

Dinner was delish.  We’re making small-small progress!