LetiziaSteiner679

De BISAWiki

He sat down in his sofa-chair-behind the tall reading lamp that extended an inch or so over the back of the chair taking one of his wooden pipes laying in the standup ashtray next to his chair and stuck two matches together-Chick his grandson sitting on the couch observing him from the corner of his eye while watching a western herbata sklep on television he had previously filled the pipe with tobacco from his tobacco jar he kept on his bedroom dresser and once lit he dropped the matches into the ashtray for once not missing it and having it land on the floor: mumbling and cussing all the time under his breath like who-knows-what only he knew what he was saying the Old Russian Bear as Chick called him figured he simply did it out of habit or perhaps talking to his demons

Dont ya go-a turin' da channel ven I gone ya her-me! he said to Chick as he stood up walked through the bedroom to the bathroom never once looking at Chick longer than a half-second it wasn't a question although it might have sounded like one it was a statement and perhaps in a light form a statement-question yet rhetorical not necessarily meant to be answered verbally only acknowledged with a look or nod of the head Once old grandpa not quite five-foot tall disappeared into the shadows of the bathroom door now open for a spell-soon to be shut Chick quickly got up and hightailed it to the kitchen knowing the direct route to the icebox and knowing exactly where the pears and apples and oranges were and out they come one by one into his side pockets of his robe and next he rushed back like a deer to where he was sitting picking up his old apple as if to disguise his race against time then a second later grandpa appeared he was mumbling and cussing again and Chick looked up from his position on the long coach a flat affect on his ten-year-old face as if he had never left his heart hardly pounding grandpa brushing off the ashes from the sofa-seat of his sofa chair his eye caught Chick eating the apple unknowingly the next three apples he had put in his robe pockets would appear one by one-in due time to him as if he was eating the same one-slowly; it was simply he didn't' want his grandpa to discover the principle of his deception at its most fundamental obscurities lest he be made fun of for eating him and his mother and his brother Mike-whom all lived together as if in an extended family out of house and home because the Old Russian Bear took a disliking for that chopping and chewing noise and seeing and monitoring which he didn't have to do but seemingly by compulsion forced to do eating apple after apple after apple and you can add that pear and orange in there it annoyed him and made him mumble and cuss more Grandpa took another look Chick now blinking as if he had something caught in his eye he had eaten the czarna herbata apple core and all as he had learned to do-part of the three-year deception from ten to thirteen and had a new apple in his hands this time grandpa looked a second and a half said Hummmmm as if he was trying to figure out the charade then back to those new formed cuss words half in English and half in Russian so no one could ever figure out completely what he was saying he had his own black book of cuss words it would have seemed somewhat coded

Was Chick a sneak? Yes oh yes sneaky he was-likened to a spider to a fly but sneaky because it was called for out of demand for the right to eat his fruit and watch television at the same time his grandpa was watching it and he'd tell you so right to your face upfront if you'd had asked him he'd even had told you himself Boy am I sneaky but I got to be and had you been there you might have even caught him mumbling something to that effect as his old grandpa sat bolt upright in that sofa chair watching 'Da Long Ranger' or 'Hop-along Cassidy' or dat cowboy vith da white hair as he'd referred to the two of the many westerns he'd watch-peacefully watch; yet and nothing nowhere and nobody anywhere in the world anymore could anguish or disturb him and consequently he got a rest from that automatic cussing he did lest they wanted that black book of cuss words to come out and the echo sounding like drums beating and not knowing exactly what they were saying but knowing they were cuss words of some nature because he was in his tomb of silence for the evening and forevermore loving it and God forbid should you disturbed him at this sacred moment

Mi abuelo estaba sentado en su silln-detras de la alta lampara de lectura que se extendía dos centímetros o mas sobre el respaldar de la silla-tomando una de sus pipas de madera del cenicero con pedestal cerca de su silla y juntando dos fsforos; Chick su nieto sentado en el sofa lo observaba por el rabillo de sus ojos mientras miraban una película del oeste en la televisin él previamente había llenado la pipa con tabaco de su tarro de tabaco que él guardaba en una cmoda en su dormitorio y una vez prendida él tir los fsforos en el cenicero por única vez no fallando al hacerlo; murmurando y diciendo palabrotas todo el tiempo bajo su aliento quién sabe qué slo él sabía qué estaba diciendo el Viejo Oso Ruso como Chick lo llamaba y se imaginaba que simplemente lo hacía por costumbre o talvez hablando con sus demonios

No vayas a cambiar de canal cuando me vaya ¿me oíste? él le dijo a Chick mientras se paraba y caminaba a través del dormitorio hacia el baño nunca mirando a Chick mas de medio segundo no era una pregunta aunque ésta hubiera sonado como que lo era era una afirmacin y talvez en una forma ligera una pregunta-afirmacin aunque retrica no necesariamente significaba ser respondida verbalmente slo reconocerla con una mirada o movimiento de cabeza Una vez que el viejo abuelo no exactamente 155 m de estatura desapareci entre las sombras de la puerta del baño-ahora abierta por un periodo pero pronto a ser cerrada-Chick rapidamente se levant y se dirigi hacia la cocina sabiendo la ruta directa hacia la nevera y sabiendo exactamente dnde estaban las peras manzanas y naranjas y afuera ellos salieron y fueron uno por uno dentro de sus bolsillos de su bata y luego él corri de vuelta como un venado a donde él estaba sentado agarrando su manzana anterior como si para disfrazar su carrera contra el tiempo luego un segundo mas tarde el abuelito apareci él estaba murmurando y diciendo palabrotas de nuevo; Chick lo mir desde donde estaba en el sofa largo con una expresin plana en su cara de diez años de edad como si no se hubiera movido su corazn apenas latiendo El abuelito cepillando las cenizas de su asiento de su silln mir a Chick comiendo la manzana sin saber que las tres siguientes manzanas que él había puesto en su bolsillo aparecerían poco a poco- en el debido tiempo -para él era como si Chick estuviera comiendo la misma manzana lentamente Esto era simple él no quería que su abuelito descubriera el principio de su ardid en su mas fundamental oscuridad por temor a ser burla de querer comerse a él a su madre y a su hermano Miguel-quienes todos vivían juntos como en un clan familiar fuera de casa y hogar-y el Viejo Oso Ruso había tomado un disgusto a ese sonido al comer y ver y monitorear que no tenía que hacerlo pero aparentemente por una fuerza compulsiva se vio forzado a hacerlo el comer manzana tras manzana y puedes agregar esa pera y naranja allí esto lo molestaba y hacía que él murmurara y renegara mas El abuelito mir otra vez Chick ahora pestañeaba como si tuviera algo en sus ojos él se había comido la manzana con corazn y todo como él había aprendido a herbata zielona hacerlo-parte de los tres años de astucia desde los diez a los trece-y ahora tenía una nueva manzana en sus manos esta vez el abuelito mir un segundo y medio dijo: Hummmmm como si él estuviera tratando de entender la farsa luego volvi a murmurar esas nuevas palabrotas la mitad en inglés y la otra en ruso parecerían de alguna forma codificadas