Mongol
He is only ten months old. He cannot yet walk. But his legs are strong enough that if he finds something to grab onto, he can pull himself up suddenly, first startled then triumphant ...with his pudgy face breaking into a huge smile.
His mother cleans and cooks for a family that lives in a big house. Mongol lives with his parents and brother in one room. It's a cozy room - except when it rains too hard and the roof in one corner leaks or when it's too hot (their old table fan broke and the asbestos roof traps the heat inside) - the gleaming kitchen pots are lined up in neat rows and the perfectly folded sheets and blankets arrayed in piles on one side of the bed. Since they cook and sleep and live in that one tiny room, there isn't much space for Mongol to crawl around and he's always getting under someone's foot.
That's why Mongol likes to go with his mother to the big house. While she is busy in the kitchen, Mongol crawls around on the cool tiled floor, a floor that goes on and on from one room to another, then another..Mongol can keep going, faster and faster, without stopping. The other room has another bed and another room has another bed and so many different shaped things and colors. Mongol stops suddenly, sits up, puts two fingers in his mouth and looks.
There are some big and tall people in that house but they don't bother Mongol. They just walk past him as if he isn't there. There is one big girl, though, who sits on a bed with a book. Most of the time she too doesn't look at Mongol. She looks at the book. But sometimes she looks at Mongol and smiles a little.
Today the big girl with the book smiled very nicely at Mongol. Mongol's clothes are faded and worn, his hair is untidy and a little drip has started down his nose, but his baby skin is soft and his eyes are bright. The big girl smiled very nicely and Mongol smiled back. Then he crawled quickly towards the bed. He grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled himself up. And then he pulled himself up a little more, right on top of the bed! Oh, look what Mongol can do!
Mongol stared at the girl and she stared back. Why wasn't she excited that Mongol could climb all the way up without falling? Why didn't she stretch out her hand and pat his cheek? Why didn't she gather him up in her arms and squeeze him and touch her forehead to his and say "mongo..l" in a soft, cooing voice like the girls in his one room neighborhood? Why did she keep sitting and staring - still smiling, but staring like she didn't know what to do?
It's lucky (for the girl) that Mongol's mother came in right then. She scooped him up at once. "Why did you get on the bed Mongol?" she scolded but her voice was gentle. She looked up at the girl, worried. But the girl had relaxed as soon as Mongol was removed. Her grip on the book loosened and she breathed easy. Thank goodness her mother hadn't come in and found Mongol on her clean sheets. The girl could afford to be magnanimous now. She smiled widely at Mongol's mother and said, "Oh, don't scold him, he's just a baby!"
It's lucky (for Mongol) that he's only ten months old. Today's not the day he finds out that he is a one-room human and the girl on the bed is a big-house human, not the same kind of human at all. He can crawl on their floors, but not sit on their furniture and certainly not climb up on their beds. And they will never come into his house, sit on his bed and eat out of his mother's dishes.
[That's why, when months later the big girl goes away to college and Mongol's mother wants to invite her over to her one-room house before she leaves (Mongol's mother likes the girl a little bit better since the day Mongol got up on her bed and she didn't scream), the girl's mother says no. The girl is sad but she doesn't argue.]
Mongol, only ten months old, is oblivious to all of this. He puts his arms around his mother's neck, buries his face in her breast and enjoys the rare cuddle in the middle of the day. Stay in that blissful ignorance a little while longer little child. You will find out soon enough.
His mother cleans and cooks for a family that lives in a big house. Mongol lives with his parents and brother in one room. It's a cozy room - except when it rains too hard and the roof in one corner leaks or when it's too hot (their old table fan broke and the asbestos roof traps the heat inside) - the gleaming kitchen pots are lined up in neat rows and the perfectly folded sheets and blankets arrayed in piles on one side of the bed. Since they cook and sleep and live in that one tiny room, there isn't much space for Mongol to crawl around and he's always getting under someone's foot.
That's why Mongol likes to go with his mother to the big house. While she is busy in the kitchen, Mongol crawls around on the cool tiled floor, a floor that goes on and on from one room to another, then another..Mongol can keep going, faster and faster, without stopping. The other room has another bed and another room has another bed and so many different shaped things and colors. Mongol stops suddenly, sits up, puts two fingers in his mouth and looks.
There are some big and tall people in that house but they don't bother Mongol. They just walk past him as if he isn't there. There is one big girl, though, who sits on a bed with a book. Most of the time she too doesn't look at Mongol. She looks at the book. But sometimes she looks at Mongol and smiles a little.
Today the big girl with the book smiled very nicely at Mongol. Mongol's clothes are faded and worn, his hair is untidy and a little drip has started down his nose, but his baby skin is soft and his eyes are bright. The big girl smiled very nicely and Mongol smiled back. Then he crawled quickly towards the bed. He grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled himself up. And then he pulled himself up a little more, right on top of the bed! Oh, look what Mongol can do!
Mongol stared at the girl and she stared back. Why wasn't she excited that Mongol could climb all the way up without falling? Why didn't she stretch out her hand and pat his cheek? Why didn't she gather him up in her arms and squeeze him and touch her forehead to his and say "mongo..l" in a soft, cooing voice like the girls in his one room neighborhood? Why did she keep sitting and staring - still smiling, but staring like she didn't know what to do?
It's lucky (for the girl) that Mongol's mother came in right then. She scooped him up at once. "Why did you get on the bed Mongol?" she scolded but her voice was gentle. She looked up at the girl, worried. But the girl had relaxed as soon as Mongol was removed. Her grip on the book loosened and she breathed easy. Thank goodness her mother hadn't come in and found Mongol on her clean sheets. The girl could afford to be magnanimous now. She smiled widely at Mongol's mother and said, "Oh, don't scold him, he's just a baby!"
It's lucky (for Mongol) that he's only ten months old. Today's not the day he finds out that he is a one-room human and the girl on the bed is a big-house human, not the same kind of human at all. He can crawl on their floors, but not sit on their furniture and certainly not climb up on their beds. And they will never come into his house, sit on his bed and eat out of his mother's dishes.
[That's why, when months later the big girl goes away to college and Mongol's mother wants to invite her over to her one-room house before she leaves (Mongol's mother likes the girl a little bit better since the day Mongol got up on her bed and she didn't scream), the girl's mother says no. The girl is sad but she doesn't argue.]
Mongol, only ten months old, is oblivious to all of this. He puts his arms around his mother's neck, buries his face in her breast and enjoys the rare cuddle in the middle of the day. Stay in that blissful ignorance a little while longer little child. You will find out soon enough.
Comments
Post a Comment