You are sitting at the parking lot of Heinen’s grocery on Green Street with Owen waiting on Carol late mid-morning. > Going on mid-afternoon. Owen laughed outloud and said his first word ah-goo then ah for A as everyone has been working the alphabet with him. He laughs at the pronunciation of some of the letters and you wonder how it would be if each letter also meant something concrete rather than just a symbol. And this brings up the old Celtic alphabet which had the names of trees and bushes as letters.
I have read research that shows the language center of the brain develops differently for languages where this is true. I believe Japanese is one of those languages but I am not positive. I know that when I was pre-school I made each letter the name of a person, the adults were capitals and the children were lower case. I had whole families on Dad’s old Underwood typewriter. I cannot remember learning words. I do know I did not say any words outloud until I was in my third year. (I have mentioned this before but not in this context.) The first words were constructed correctly as an interrogative question: “I want a cookie.” The witnesses were my mother and Grandma Schick. That’s the family story. A myth probably, but that is what I was told. I assume the reason I did not say any words before the time that I did is because I didn’t think I had anything to say, so I didn’t say anything. Why else?
Grandma later said that as I was the first child in the new generation everyone waited on me hand and foot because of my thin and weak nature having been born almost two months premature, that I would just point at things and they were given to me so I had no need to communicate any other way. Others concurred. I don’t remember exactly yet I do remember when I spoke because I said it plainly enough and all at once there was this great commotion because I had said something. I suppose they must have worried that I was brain damaged from my too early birth and lack of oxygen early on. Through hypnosis I remembered being in a box and having a neck and head, that was it. Owen isn’t having any of these problems and neither did my sisters or our daughter. I place it all on happenstance not genetics. When people tell you how you were in early life it effects how you are later. Observation becomes personal history, personal identity even if the observation may have originally been misunderstood, i.e. that I had brain damage or as I jokingly say today, some of the brain wiring is out of sync.
You stopped suddenly because you have nothing else to say.
That’s true. I don’t.
Late afternoon and you still have nothing to say.
That’s right. Words are gone.
Let’s put that to use. Go to scene five. – Amorella.
Scene 5
I don’t know what Sophia wants to see me about. I was going to have lunch with Agathia. She glanced into the front window of the Mikroikia from across Eleusis and saw Salaman was about to leave. As she had not been seen she turned and walked the other way already angry at herself for having done that. Where am I going? She stopped, waited momentarily then retraced her steps and crossed the street without hesitation.
Once inside she spotted Sophia who, looking towards the entrance, stood. The two women headed to the small back room where they found the old chairs and table. After the hello’s each sat with a memory assembled glass of favorite wine and sat back savoring the taste.
This simple pleasure of relaxation was so habitual that neither considered the other to be empty handed. None of the Dead appeared to consider it at all. After all, it was the company and the illusion of ambience and memory of good tastes that was important in sharing a meal. Most refreshment sharing is a personal subjective reality based on gustatory and amicable pleasures. That is the usual social element at the table, but not this one.
“I already had a lunch set up, Sophia. What is this about?”
“It is not about lunch. You can see Agathia later. I need to know where you stand on searching for the other Dead among us?”
***
I didn’t get very far. Watching Owen. Family conversations. Pleasant day but not very productive writing wise.
Far enough for today. We can finish five tomorrow and set up for the next scene, six. Tomorrow night when Kim arrives home from work you and Carol are heading to Mason for the weekend. My schedule is looser than yours orndorff, much more so actually.
Do you want me to delete part of these notes before posting? I talk way too much.
Do you want to take any of what you said back as being false or untrue even in suggestion?
No, but I rattle on.
That’s the reason your former students used to like your lectures and class.
I sometimes got off the subject.
Let’s stick with it. I'll be in charge of the subject in the blog. You’ll forget what you wrote within a day or two. Much of it is ‘thoughts at the moment’. Nothing new in that orndorff. That’s a way your writing is very consistent. Later, dude. – Amorella.
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