Thursday, August 6, 2009

Second Thoughts

Now I am starting to have second thoughts about the whole kids in pool thing. Sylvia pointed out to me that our pool is pretty deep and could be dangerous for children especially if there are a lot of them. Then Riccardo mentioned that some families might see it as an opportunity to sue us if their kid got even a little bit hurt.

Later that night, it was Saturday, I saw Natalie running around Calzada around nine o'clock with a group of kids, mostly boys. Lots of kids hang out in the street here, but nine o'clock on the main tourist drag made me wonder if perhaps Natalie was running with a rougher crowd than I am comfortable having in my home. And I saw Dayton and he was looking a little dazed. Could it be glue?

I've been working a lot and Natalie has school in the afternoon when I am more likely to be available, so we haven't been able to come up with a mutually agreeable time. She came by this morning with a bunch of boys I hadn't seen before and I told her that we had to talk about the swimming. I told her it was too dangerous and if she wanted to swim, she needed to bring her mom with her so we could talk about it. She asked if she could bring a really big cousin instead.

So then Araceli and her mom, Diana showed up. She seemed to be about 22 and quite pretty. She had a big basket of tortillas. I said some really stupid things like, the tortillas I've been eating are delicious, did you make them. She smiled and nodded. Then I explained that the girls had been swimming at my house, which she seemed to know nothing about. She said they aren't sisters. Oh, so the grandma that said it was okay to swim wasn't her grandma. I explained the new rule - mutually agreeable time with adult present. Do you understand? A little, she says. OK some time next week. I bought 8 tortillas from here, gave them a glass of water. We'll see you next week. By the way, Natalie and Araceli have the same father. So they are sisters! No not really, she said. I thought they were just "irish twins."

Little bit later, Natalie comes by with her basket. So sorry, I say, I just bought them from Araceli and her mom. Tomorrow. But thanks for telling all the kids to bring their parents!

No comments:

Post a Comment