The Library is My Church

Yesterday at our promised time my neighbors Zukeily, Nuni, Genesis, Pedro, and Luis showed up at my back door. We all walked to Woonsocket Harris Library for our watercolor session in the Children's Room. Luis and Pedro signed up for library cards and hung out reading books. The art room was hot, but nice and quiet. It was so fun to paint that the girls and I stayed longer than we had planned. We were sitting opposite each other, painting each other's portraits, noticing ear lobes, lips, nostrils, and laughing. Then we all went next door to the community garden and nibbled on my basil and arugula and took turns dunking our heads in the big plastic rain barrels. It cooled us off! We explored the garden. We saw eggplants and tomatoes and zucchinis growing. Zukeiley ran over to examine a CD dangling on a string, meant to scare the woodchucks. She had run over to see what music was on it! "Nothing good," she said.

We all walked home together. It threatened rain. The three girls were chilly, so they locked arms for warmth, huddling under my black and white umbrella. Luis was carrying Bill's big black umbrella open over his head. He kept jumping off low walls, hoping to fly like Mary Poppins. Pedro walked beside me, his hands in his pockets pushing his pants low to show his boxers. We passed a white step van serving as a homemade lunch wagon. The handwritten cardboard menu was tied to a nearby tree, listing all of the Spanish food, but nobody was in the truck. "What's chimi?" I asked. Instead they wanted to buy candy, and ran in to Walgreen's. While they were standing in the candy aisle deciding what to choose, I said goodbye and kept on walking home. A few minutes later I heard a bunch of yelling; they were calling my name, running to catch up with me. I stopped and waited. "You walk fast!" Pedro said, out of breath. "I'm hungry too!" I explained. When we got home, we said goodbye and I came inside. I made toast with fresh basil and slices of hard Romano cheese for supper and fell fast asleep. It was still light out.