Friday, 01/28/05 - 12:35 pm.
In spite of all the way I've depicted life in this household, and my niece especially (even though is, from my perspective, very accurate), yesterday afternoon was really fun. It might have a lot to do with the fact that I wasn't really home. Which makes the whole thing even more exciting (at least for me, a pathetic hermit who never leaves her house).
I think I stopped the last entry saying it was raining and so my nephew and I wouldn't be able to get out for lunch. We did, though, under the rain. It was so much fun, stepping in puddles, and watching the umbrella be wrecked by the wind.
We first went to Barnes & Noble, where I bought The Beatles - Past Masters II, and I asked if they had a certain book my niece needed (she asked me to find out, if I went there). Then we went to Randall's to have lunch and buy some groceries to get us through until the weekend.
The kind man at the checkout started to talk to my nephew (the 8 year-old), and he doesn't understand english (yet), so he just turned bright red. I said oh, he's very shy to the kind man. Most checkout people are very nice around here. He kept asking me if I needed help with the bags. I don't even have a car, and our house is across the highway, like five blocks away from Randall's. The bag I was carrying was very heavy (to remove some weight from my nephew's) and it kind of ripped, but that's how things are nowadays. But in short, I kindly replied "thank you, we can handle this".
We came back home when the nice lady was finishing cleaning up the house, so we just said goodbye. Who knows if I'll see her again. Perhaps she'll be still working when I come back to Housron. She's from El Salvador, too, so also maybe one day she'll get all that paperwork in order and can go back there (hasn't in 13 years) and take her time to visit us. She kept telling me about her family, but she isn't annoying, really. I tried to fill her in with the filthy details of the way the nasty country is defectively working in the present. She can't wait to visit. Oh, well.
I had to go out again an hour later, to pick up my niece at choir rehearsal in her school. When we came home, she tried to call her mom. But her mom had left her cell phone here at home, she'd left work and was probably on her way to college (isn't she a superwoman?). I asked her if I could help. She needed the book for tomorrow.
So I offered her to go to B&N, if she didn't mind walking. Thank you, you're the best. She always says that when I'm helping her out and she's in a good mood. So I went back to B&N with her. She got her book, and I got my brother a Calvin & Hobbes book he'd asked me to get (he said I should get it only if it was still on sale...it wasn't, but the original price was just $5 more, plus tax. He was very nice to me when he moved back into the house and took me shopping "not minding the price tags", so I might as well return the favor).
My niece had $10 and the book was about $7. I gave her back a $5 bill. When we were walking out of the store she hinted that it'd be nice to have a cup of coffee. There's plenty of time, and I don't have a lot of homework. Oh, what the hell, I thought. Carpe diem. So we ordered a slice of chocolate cheesecake and a vanilla bean, and we took a sit to enjoy the moment. A wonderful moment that I hadn't planned: books, cheesecake, a rainy day and a child in a charming mood. I thought that'd be also a perfect moment for some serious girl talk, but I let it go. I didn't know how to begin.
We came back home and both my nephew and niece had to leave. Niece had science fair and nephew had basketabll practice. So it was just my 8 year-old nephew and I, and I prepared a very healthy meal: chicken nuggets, french fries, milk and oreo cookies. I added lettuce, though, to ruin it. It was all I could think of (and afford) at the store that morning.
When both kids came back home, they ate and went to do their homework. Finishing it is a must if they want to watch whose line is it, anyway? at 9. My sister in law came at about 8, and everything was peaceful.
Until...
...it turned out that my niece hadn't finished her homework and she insisted on doing it while watching the show, which is nearly ilegal. My sister in law, Denise, said "no, go to your room to finish and then you can watch the rest" (it's two episodes per night), and she got pissed off. Denise started watching it with us but my niece came and angrily said to her she needed help.
Minutes later I hear the typical angry tone of my niece, and then the sobbing and then the slamming of doors (what's up with that?). It's hard to believe that was the same cute, happy, thoughtful girl I'd shared a slice of cheesecake with a few hours ago. I don't know how everything worked out in the end, if it worked out at all, but she ended up watching the rest of the show, and finished her homework afterwards.
There's always a sour note.
Today I'm starting to pack the bags, and since words fail me to express how I really feel, I'll just say it's the worst thing ever. I don't want to leave. I'm a big help here, I get out here, even if it's just around the neighborhood, for a walk. At home I honestly don't feel like getting out at all.
And in spite of all the conflicts I have had and could possibly have with the kids here, and even when I'm at the worst with my niece, I always think -and know- it won't be easy being at the airport and hugging them goodbye. I hope to God I will not cry, because once I begin, it lasts at least an hour. When I hear my niece being a bitch I'm very upset and I nearly hate her, but even at that time I can't help picturing myself at the airport leaving her. It gets me everytime. I don't stop feeling upset, but it reminds me that I couldn't possibly stop loving her and her sister. And that luckily, their angsty fits pass.
So, um, before I start getting tearful, I'm gonna go have lunch. Or something.
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