ME “You really like those chips, do you?”
GELA “Yup. Hey Mom, do you know that there is an animal that will allow itself to die?”
ME “Really? How’d you know that?”
GELA “Teacher said. The praying mantis boy, I mean, the male praying mantis, when the female praying mantis is going to have a birth, he will allow the wife to eat its head.”
NIKA “Eew! But Gela, what birth do you mean?”
GELA “I mean when the female praying mantis is pregnant, will have a child. She will eat the head of the male and then slowly eat the neck and the body.”
ME “That’s gross. I wonder why she’d do that. And the man mantis is okay about it?”
GELA “Yeah. The male praying mantis will be eaten. What a sacrifice. But Teacher was also asking that to us in class. Why?”
ME “But hey Nika, do you know that gorillas are now becoming extinct?”
NIKA “How did you know, Mom?”
ME “Internet.”
NIKA “Pity. Then the time will come Gel, when the turtles are also extinct.”
GELA “And you know, Nik, when I’m already a grandmother I’d say to my grandchildren: I am going to tell you about an animal we used to know when I was a kid. What was that again? What was the name of that animal again?”
ME “Hahahahahaha! Silly.”
NIKA “Yes Gel, you look funny. Hahahahahaha!”
GELA “Then my daughter would say: Oh mom, it’s the turtle. And I’d tell the boy, because my daughter will have a son: Yeah! The tur-tuh! The tur-tuh! What is the tur-tuh again?”
ME “Hahahahahaha! But hey, I thought you said you’re not gonna get married.”
NIKA “Gela’s gonna get married. Gela’s gonna get married!”
ME “But you look funny acting like a grandma.”
GELA “And I’ll tell my grandchildren: Do you know your great grandmother? She is Heidi. But yeah, what was that I’m going to tell you about again? Ah, the tur-tuh…”ME “C’mon girls, let’s finish off the chips and prepare your bags for tomorrow’s class.”
What a drag I must sound, but it's almost bedtime.
Yet it was a happy moment watching Gela act out, standing up on the couch, with Nika at her feet, munching and laughing. Laughing with them is always a treat.Then I realized, I'd also be extinct by the time Gela will be having this conversation with her real grandchildren...I stood up slowly, going to prepare their glasses of water, off to the same invisible highway that the gorillas and the turtles would go.
Painting: Mother and Her Daughters, by Lucette Dallozo
"I know that," I answered. "I've been in love before. It's like a narcotic. At first it brings the euphoria of complete surrender. The next day, you want more. You're not addicted yet, but you like the sensation, and you think you can still control things. You think about the person you love for two minutes, and forget them for three hours. But then you get used to that person, and you begin to be completely dependent on them. Now you think about him for three hours and forget him for two minutes."
