Pinche pela
“Remember the pela they put us through in the 4th grade because of the tao thing?” Meche asked Boy out of the blue when they were having coffee one morning at her bakery and café, La Buena Bakery.
Boy winced as he searched his memory banks for the “tao thing.”
“You have to remember. It started with us having to memorized poems about children in England, and there was one poem that kept repeating the word thou and a boy in class said tao and everybody laughed. And from then on everybody kept saying tao?” Mecho said.
“Oh, simón,” Boy said laughing.
“It drove the teacher crazy cuz she tried to correct everybody and it only got worse and worse,” said Boy.
“And there was a boy in class whose last name was Dowd, and even he kept saying tao, tao, tao,” said Boy between bursts of laughter.
“And it went on and on all the way to the 6th grade, with everybody pronouncing everything close to it as tao, like town, down, done, sound, always as tao, tao, tao, tao,” said Meche, laughing out loud.
“I just came back from taotaon. They went taod to the water. Turn down the taond, it’s too loud,” she added.
“Everybody was doing it, and the teachers started coordinating among themselves to make the students stop,” said Boy.
“They once caught me and made me write ‘I will go downtown where the sound of music is found’”
Meche laughed and laughed, and Boy joined in.
After a long while, the stopped laughing but tears streaked down their eyes.
“Look at you, tears coming taon, taon,” said Boy.
Meche’s daughter, who worked the cash register in the café looked over at them, barely resisting being infected by Boy’s and Meche’s laughter.
“Those last years of elementary school were a pinche pela because of that,” Meche said.
“They once even expelled me cuz they thought I was purposely saying tao instead of town to one of the teachers,” said Boy.
“When was that?” asked Meche.
“The week before Easter in the 5th grade,” said Boy.
“Really? That’s why you ditched me in the play about spring when we were both going to be flowers and it was gonna rain on us?”
Boy pondered the question.
“I guess I don’t remember that,” said Boy.
“I was so looking forward to it. We were gonna wear the same costume and skip around holding hands. But when you didn’t show up, I was the only girl who didn’t have a partner to skip around the stage with,” said Meche, her voice starting to crack.
“Pos it wasn’t my fault. The teacher took me to the office and then sent me home,” said Boy.
What started out as a humorous conversation had turned dark.
“Well, now that I know you didn’t come that day cuz you were busted for saying tao, I feel relieved it wasn’t something heavier,” said Meche after a long pause.
“Don’t give me a pela now, Meche. It happened long ago and it wasn’t my fault,” said Boy.
“Yeah, it was quite a pela that day,” said Meche, shaking her head.
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