April 11, 2008
Conviction and non-chalance
Ran out of cigarettes yesterday on my way home from work. I decided to stop at a local gas station that I frequent so I merge into the right traffic lane only to get stuck behind a car that's traveling at a snail's pace. If you all have ever been in a car while Im driving, you know that while Im a curteous driver, I have no patience for folks that drive like idiots or those that drive while white knuckling the steering wheel. Im about to lay into the horn when I realize the driver is an old man. A really old man. So I bite my tongue and bide my time.
As Im thinking Im finally going to be done with being behind this really slow driving old man because the gas station is just a few hundred feet away, the old man's turn signal comes on. Yep. He's pulling into the same gas station.
It takes him what seems like forever to circle the maze of cars gassing up and park right in front of the gas station. Unfortunately, I have to follow him as I, too, am not interested in gasoline but in cigarettes. I park right next to him, roll up my windows and get out of the car. To my surprise, the slow driving old man is already by the entrance to the gas mart and I meet him there just in time to open the door for him. "Gracias, mijo," he says to me.
"De nada, caballero," I reply.
Once inside, I decide to grab a bottle of water - in case traffic is worse than usual - while the old man heads straight for the newspaper stand. The attendant is chatting away with two young dudes when the old man picks up a copy of El Diario de las Americas and takes the few steps up to the cashier's counter.
The attendant says "Buenas tardes" to the old man and rings him up. The old man echoes the attendant's words then starts to chat away excitedly about some news on the front page of his paper.
I can hear the old man saying stuff like "things are finally starting to change in Cuba," and "the castro's are living on borrowed time." You can tell just by hearing him that the old man is excited about what he's saying. There's a certain relief or happiness to his tone. When I come up next to him with my bottled water, I see he's smiling. "Ya les queda poco," he says.
"Parece," the aloof attendant replies while handing the man his change. The old man grabs his change, pockets it, picks up his Diario and heads towards the door. "Buenas tardes," he says as he struggles a bit getting it open and finally exitting the gas station mart.
No sooner had the old man been out of earshot than the two dudes and the attendant burst into laughter. Young dude number one says "So old and he still thinks he can topple castro." The laughter increases.
I freeze on the spot and literally fight the urge to pummel this guy. I turn around and with what Im sure is an incredulous look on my face ask them where theyre from. Young dude number one says Cuba, young dude two and the attendant say Venezuela. "How long have you all lived here," I ask as I feel a tirade building up inside me.
Big mouth Cuban dude says five years. His young partner says the same and the attendant says seven years. In my mind Im imagining the store all messed up, with fallen shelves and stock all over the floor. The young dudes all beaten to shreds, the attendant out cold behind the counter and me in handcuffs. Im so mad at that moment that I can literally feel my ears and forehead hot.
I bite my toungue as I pay for my water and cigs and grab my change and put it in my wallet. "You know," I calmly say to the three amigos. "If it werent for old men like that paving the way for you and opening doors for you, you guys might not have it so easy."
My comment takes them by surprise. Theyre all doing double takes with each other. "And maybe, just maybe," I say. "If you guys believed in something other than yourselves, something bigger than yourselves, like that old man does, then maybe, just maybe, Cuba and Venezuela wouldnt be so fucked." I grabbed my water bottle and cigs and walked out.
I could hear the laughter as I got back into my car.
Posted by Val Prieto at April 11, 2008 07:07 AM
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Comments
Val -
Perhaps it is better that THESE jovenes stay the way they are. The last "young guy" to to anything about changing the Cuban body politic was FIDEL.
Leave this "Cambio" to wiser, if not older folks.
-S-
Posted by: Dr.Shalit ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 11, 2008 08:58 AM
Val, you are on your way to becoming an outspoken old geezer like me and the gent at the gas station. If you quit smoking and slow down, you just might make it.
Posted by: PTG at April 11, 2008 09:01 AM
If it was me having the balls to say what you said (or anything at all for that matter), I'd be red-faced, voice shaking, and talking really loud. Thanks for standing up for "el caballero", and thanks for a much needed reminder to be a caballero myself.
Posted by: Marquito at April 11, 2008 10:28 AM
"Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let man label you as they may." Mark Twain
Posted by: Ziva K. Sahl at April 12, 2008 12:12 AM
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