Shivering In The Corridor

Sometimes I'll put things in this blog only because I don't want to lose them. Yesterday I came across the following section of Barbara Kingsolver's book The Lacuna which I read this time last year. I scribbled the section into my notebook but it was lost under my bed for months, the edges of the page frayed.

The words, however, resound inside some emptiness at the center of my chest. I read the section again and again last night in hopes they'd burn through my eyes and into my brain. Ultimately I can't trust my memory though. Paper can be so delicate a thing. And I found the section too generous and tender to be lost again, so, indulge me.

"'Andele. Go on now, get in the water,' [Leandro] said. 'You will be surprised.'

"The pale-skinned boy stood shivering in water up to his waist, thinking these were the most awful words in any language: You will be surprised. The moment when everything is about to change. When Mother was leaving Father (loudly, glasses crashing against the wall), taking the child to Mexico, and nothing to do but stand in the corridor of the cold little house, waiting to be told. The exchanges were never good: taking a train, a father and then no father. Don Enrique from the consulate in Washington, then Enrique in Mother's bedroom. Everything changes now, while you stand shivering in the corridor waiting to slip through one world into the next.

"And now, at the end of everything, this: standing waist-deep in the ocean wearing the diving goggle, with Leandro watching. A pack of village boys had come along too, their dark arms swinging, carrying the long knives they used for collecting oysters. White sand caked the sides of their feet like pale moccasins. They stopped to watch, all the swinging arms stopped, frozen in place, waiting. There was nothing left for him to do but take a breath and dive into that blue place."

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Stuck In My Brain: These Air-Quality Color Changing Shirts. I appreciate the sentiment but find the lung shaped air-quality indicators uniquely disturbing.
Anxiously Awaiting: Phoenix, AZ for three days next week. Conference for work. Snazzy hotel. Temperatures in the upper sixties.
Dinner Plans: Leftover Thai Curry. I've been thinking about it all day.