After all, it is grocery day. " She
stopped frowning and slowly made a partial smile. "I have something for
you." He felt surprised. He wondered why he would be given something.
He couldn't remember having ever been given a gift. In Thailand (the
real Thailand as lived by the poor masses) children were instruments:
tools to ease the task of making a living, and later they were
sustenance and emotional pampering for the aging parents. Above the
steering wheel she showed to him a small rectangular box that she
opened like a coffin. In it was a large golden pen that gleamed like
the roofs of a Buddhist temple. Minutes passed. She continued to
exhibit the pen and her half-smile while staying encased. All of the
car windows were rolled up. He kept wondering what good the pen would
do him if it were just a visual appearance seen through the glass of a
car. He forgot the pen and concentrated on his mother who was as
intangible. He heard the sound of her calmly wrestling unsuccessfully
with a door handle that would not unlock.
He or it--this mordant mosquito-- came with wings piercing through
sleep.
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