Pretty Papaya #6
John was just about done packing the last of his things from his bedroom in his parents’ house. His mother passed away a couple of years ago and his dad recently died of cancer. Being the only child, he inherited the house. Unfortunately he simply couldn’t afford to maintain it and keep his apartment in the city. He thought about moving into the house but he knew he couldn’t find a job there. So he had to sell it.
Although John regretted selling the house, two thoughts comforted him: first, that he was fortunate enough to even have a home, and second, that he was selling it to a non-profit organization that would turn it into a women’s shelter for women and children who needed a temporary home till they got on their feet.
“One last box,” John said out loud to himself as he picked up a very old cardboard box from the back of his closet.
He opened the box and to his surprise, it was a box full of his old toys. He pulled the toys out one by one and examined them. He found a red fire truck, an old toy microscope, a toy shovel, a race car, and many more toys.
John thought to himself as he was looking at the toys, “Wow, I was a really fortunate kid.”
When John was done pulling out the toys, he found an old notebook at the bottom of the box. It had his name written on the front of it in red crayon.
“Is this… no it can’t be,” he said, once again talking to himself.
He opened up the book and found pages filled with stories written in red crayon.
“It is. It’s my diary.”
He sat down on his bedroom floor and began to read.
“June 29, 1975
Dear Diary,
We are driving to Pop Pop’s new house in Arizona. We are going to visit for the summer. My mom says it is hot there. She says it does not snow much where Pop Pop lives, not even around Christmas time! I am happy that we will see Pop Pop.
John”
John suddenly remembered the trip he was reading about. He hadn’t thought about it in a while. He was about 10 and they took a trip down his grandfather’s new ranch in Arizona. He turned the page and kept on reading.
“July 10, 1975
Dear Diary,
We are at Pop Pop’s new house. He lives on a lot of land. He took me on a walk to show me all the cool stuff he has.
On our trip around the ranch, Pop Pop and daddy stopped and started talking and pointing into the distance. I did not know what they were talking about. They were saying things I did not understand and I could not see anything but desert in the distance. I started walking to where they were pointing. It seemed important since Pop Pop and daddy were talking really loud about it. I did not walk very far when daddy grabbed my shoulder and brought me back to Pop Pop. They told me I could not walk passed where we were. I asked why. They said that we were at the border and I was not allowed to walk passed it without daddy or mommy. I asked them why and daddy said “Because I said so”.
My cousin Brian is here now. He is staying here for the summer too! I told him what happened today. He asked me what a border was. I told him I did not know.
John”
“July 12, 1975
Dear Diary,
Brian and I told Aunt Jan we were going exploring. We went to the border. Brian asked where it was. I said I did not know. We could not see it. We thought it might be underground so we started digging. We did not find it.
John”
“July 15, 1975
Dear Diary,
Brian and I went back to the border. We brought my magnifying glass with us. We thought that the border might be really small. We still could not find it.
Something scary happened at the border. We saw a woman running with a satchel towards us in the distance. Then we saw men with guns running towards the woman from very far away. We hid behind the stable. The woman dropped the satchel and started running away from it. I do not think the men with guns saw it because they left it there.
We ran back to the house. We told daddy about what happened. He got really mad. He asked us why we were at the border. We told him we were looking for it because we could not see it. We asked him what a border was. He told me it was like the fence in our backyard that separates our house from our next door neighbor’s house. I asked if a border was a fence. He said no, it could be a mountain or a river. I asked how people know what borders are if they can be a fence, a mountain or a river. He said that it is something you have to imagine. He said borders were imaginary lines and we just use fences or mountains to know where they are.
Later when mommy was tucking me in to bed, I asked her why we had borders. She said it was because we had to have a way to know what belongs to us and what belongs to others. I guess that makes sense.
John”
“July 16, 1975
Dear Diary,
Early this morning Brian and I went back to the border because I left my magnifying glass there.
The satchel was still in the desert. We wondered what was in it. No one was looking so we ran out to it to bring it back. It was a really big satchel. There was little boy in it! He looked scared. He could not move. We carried him to the stable and gave him some water.
Later on Brian and I brought him some toys and some of the food we did not eat at dinner. We did not tell anyone. We thought the men with guns would come take him away.
John”
“July 17, 1975
Dear Diary,
This morning at breakfast Pop Pop came in yelling that a little Mexican boy was in his stable. He said he scared him back over the border. I asked mommy why he was mad. She said that the little boy was trespassing on Pop Pop’s property. She said whatever the boy owned was on his side of the border and what Pop Pop owned was on our side and if we go across the border without permission, it is like stealing.
Brian and I went back to the border with some breakfast just in case the boy was there. He was there, but on the other side of the border, sitting in the desert. Brian and I wanted to help him but we could not because of the border. We came up with a great idea! The border was just an imaginary line. So we could imagine it somewhere else!
I got my notebook and a crayon and Brian got some sticks. We walked over to where the boy was sitting and drew a line in the desert behind him. We put some sticks along the line. I wrote “Border” on some papers and stuck them on the sticks. Since the boy was on our side of the border, he owned what we owned.
We brought the boy back to the stable. He ate his breakfast and we played.
Daddy, Mommy, Aunt Jan and Pop Pop came by to go for a horseback ride. They were really mad when they saw the little boy playing with us. They brought him back to the desert. We told them that he was on the right side of the border. We showed them our new border but they wouldn’t listen. They told us we could not go around changing the border. I asked why. Pop Pop said that we have to know what we own and they own. He said there wasn’t enough stuff for everyone so we have to make sure we know what is ours and what is theirs. Then I told Pop Pop there was enough stuff to share with the little boy. I told him I gave the little boy my second red fire truck. I told him Brian gave him one of his extra trucks. I told him wee gave him the extra food no one ate at dinner. He still would not listen to me.
Pop Pop called the men with guns to take the little boy away. I don’t understand. He did not do anything.
John”
John stopped reading there. “Fifty years later and I still don’t understand”, he thought.
He put his toys back in the box and took one last look around his room. He glanced briefly out his bedroom window. He took one last look at the fence that separated his yard from his neighbor’s yard.
“It’s funny”, he thought, “Mary and Suzie used to climb over that fence into our yard all the time. And I used to climb over it too into their yard. We used to share toys and food all the time. And my parents never got as mad as they did that summer we crossed the border to play and share with the Mexican boy. Why…. why is it that some borders mean so much more to us than others?”
“I guess men will find any justification to be cruel to other human beings, whether it is race, religion, war, or… a border.”
Although John regretted selling the house, two thoughts comforted him: first, that he was fortunate enough to even have a home, and second, that he was selling it to a non-profit organization that would turn it into a women’s shelter for women and children who needed a temporary home till they got on their feet.
“One last box,” John said out loud to himself as he picked up a very old cardboard box from the back of his closet.
He opened the box and to his surprise, it was a box full of his old toys. He pulled the toys out one by one and examined them. He found a red fire truck, an old toy microscope, a toy shovel, a race car, and many more toys.
John thought to himself as he was looking at the toys, “Wow, I was a really fortunate kid.”
When John was done pulling out the toys, he found an old notebook at the bottom of the box. It had his name written on the front of it in red crayon.
“Is this… no it can’t be,” he said, once again talking to himself.
He opened up the book and found pages filled with stories written in red crayon.
“It is. It’s my diary.”
He sat down on his bedroom floor and began to read.
“June 29, 1975
Dear Diary,
We are driving to Pop Pop’s new house in Arizona. We are going to visit for the summer. My mom says it is hot there. She says it does not snow much where Pop Pop lives, not even around Christmas time! I am happy that we will see Pop Pop.
John”
John suddenly remembered the trip he was reading about. He hadn’t thought about it in a while. He was about 10 and they took a trip down his grandfather’s new ranch in Arizona. He turned the page and kept on reading.
“July 10, 1975
Dear Diary,
We are at Pop Pop’s new house. He lives on a lot of land. He took me on a walk to show me all the cool stuff he has.
On our trip around the ranch, Pop Pop and daddy stopped and started talking and pointing into the distance. I did not know what they were talking about. They were saying things I did not understand and I could not see anything but desert in the distance. I started walking to where they were pointing. It seemed important since Pop Pop and daddy were talking really loud about it. I did not walk very far when daddy grabbed my shoulder and brought me back to Pop Pop. They told me I could not walk passed where we were. I asked why. They said that we were at the border and I was not allowed to walk passed it without daddy or mommy. I asked them why and daddy said “Because I said so”.
My cousin Brian is here now. He is staying here for the summer too! I told him what happened today. He asked me what a border was. I told him I did not know.
John”
“July 12, 1975
Dear Diary,
Brian and I told Aunt Jan we were going exploring. We went to the border. Brian asked where it was. I said I did not know. We could not see it. We thought it might be underground so we started digging. We did not find it.
John”
“July 15, 1975
Dear Diary,
Brian and I went back to the border. We brought my magnifying glass with us. We thought that the border might be really small. We still could not find it.
Something scary happened at the border. We saw a woman running with a satchel towards us in the distance. Then we saw men with guns running towards the woman from very far away. We hid behind the stable. The woman dropped the satchel and started running away from it. I do not think the men with guns saw it because they left it there.
We ran back to the house. We told daddy about what happened. He got really mad. He asked us why we were at the border. We told him we were looking for it because we could not see it. We asked him what a border was. He told me it was like the fence in our backyard that separates our house from our next door neighbor’s house. I asked if a border was a fence. He said no, it could be a mountain or a river. I asked how people know what borders are if they can be a fence, a mountain or a river. He said that it is something you have to imagine. He said borders were imaginary lines and we just use fences or mountains to know where they are.
Later when mommy was tucking me in to bed, I asked her why we had borders. She said it was because we had to have a way to know what belongs to us and what belongs to others. I guess that makes sense.
John”
“July 16, 1975
Dear Diary,
Early this morning Brian and I went back to the border because I left my magnifying glass there.
The satchel was still in the desert. We wondered what was in it. No one was looking so we ran out to it to bring it back. It was a really big satchel. There was little boy in it! He looked scared. He could not move. We carried him to the stable and gave him some water.
Later on Brian and I brought him some toys and some of the food we did not eat at dinner. We did not tell anyone. We thought the men with guns would come take him away.
John”
“July 17, 1975
Dear Diary,
This morning at breakfast Pop Pop came in yelling that a little Mexican boy was in his stable. He said he scared him back over the border. I asked mommy why he was mad. She said that the little boy was trespassing on Pop Pop’s property. She said whatever the boy owned was on his side of the border and what Pop Pop owned was on our side and if we go across the border without permission, it is like stealing.
Brian and I went back to the border with some breakfast just in case the boy was there. He was there, but on the other side of the border, sitting in the desert. Brian and I wanted to help him but we could not because of the border. We came up with a great idea! The border was just an imaginary line. So we could imagine it somewhere else!
I got my notebook and a crayon and Brian got some sticks. We walked over to where the boy was sitting and drew a line in the desert behind him. We put some sticks along the line. I wrote “Border” on some papers and stuck them on the sticks. Since the boy was on our side of the border, he owned what we owned.
We brought the boy back to the stable. He ate his breakfast and we played.
Daddy, Mommy, Aunt Jan and Pop Pop came by to go for a horseback ride. They were really mad when they saw the little boy playing with us. They brought him back to the desert. We told them that he was on the right side of the border. We showed them our new border but they wouldn’t listen. They told us we could not go around changing the border. I asked why. Pop Pop said that we have to know what we own and they own. He said there wasn’t enough stuff for everyone so we have to make sure we know what is ours and what is theirs. Then I told Pop Pop there was enough stuff to share with the little boy. I told him I gave the little boy my second red fire truck. I told him Brian gave him one of his extra trucks. I told him wee gave him the extra food no one ate at dinner. He still would not listen to me.
Pop Pop called the men with guns to take the little boy away. I don’t understand. He did not do anything.
John”
John stopped reading there. “Fifty years later and I still don’t understand”, he thought.
He put his toys back in the box and took one last look around his room. He glanced briefly out his bedroom window. He took one last look at the fence that separated his yard from his neighbor’s yard.
“It’s funny”, he thought, “Mary and Suzie used to climb over that fence into our yard all the time. And I used to climb over it too into their yard. We used to share toys and food all the time. And my parents never got as mad as they did that summer we crossed the border to play and share with the Mexican boy. Why…. why is it that some borders mean so much more to us than others?”
“I guess men will find any justification to be cruel to other human beings, whether it is race, religion, war, or… a border.”
posted by Anonymous at 11:43 AM
1 Comments:
Good work, I liked this!
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