How does that saying go? We do not inherit this land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children? And does it mean that our crimes will continue to be passed on until they reach the generation that no longer bears children? He used to play a funny game in his head after working all day, in the heat of the shower he would consider himself blessed that he was born at this point in history, thinking of all those past generations without running water. And as he washed the dirt from underneath his fingernails, shaved the reflection of an increasingly aging face, he regretted instead that he was born too soon. The hot water would sometimes run out before he finished his thoughts.
Even more rarely, but rare is remembered, he thought so hard on the matter that he left the shower cold and confused, wondering if this was in fact who he was. What if I am someone else entirely? But before he could answer the question, there would be a knock on the door, and she would be eager to come inside, kiss his back and gently push him out. My turn!
Unlike him, she would leave the door cracked open so that he could see and hear her routine, and she would hum a song that he would have stuck in his head, and sometimes he wondered if she did this to prevent him from finishing his thoughts, with which she competed for attention.
You've kissed me like that before, he would think. It was nice. You should have stopped after the first. Rare is remembered.
And she would bounce into bed and ask, 'Why don't you write for me like you used to?'
'You remember.'
'Of course I remember.'
It wasn't a question, he thought. It is why.
She points to a picture in her magazine, 'I want to go back here. Don't you remember how much fun we had?'
He smiles and shakes his head. He remembers the side streets, wondering if anyone might know how old the cobblestones were. The large, hand-carved wooden doors that sheltered sunny courtyards free from the overwhelming smell of diesel and manure. The money changer in the park who explained how he could tell the foreigners since they were the only ones not holding hands or carrying groceries. How they bought a bag and filled it with bread and wine and held hands the rest of the time.
'I remember the hotel only had hot water for an hour each day,' he said.
'Oh, I forgot about that. Maybe Hawaii, then?'
2 comments:
There should be a law that hot showers can never run out of hot water. I don't particularly want to consider the environmental implications or the individual irresponsibility aspect of that statement, I just want the hot water to NEVER RUN OUT.
If the hot water didn't eventually run out my electric bill would be hateful and we would be out of fossil fuels. there has got to be some limit, although i completely agree with the sentiment.
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