My Day Part 2 Continued From Part 1

Continued From My Day Part1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Just as I thought of it a little old woman stumbled up beside me and greeted me with a funny dialect I had to listen hard to understand the content of everything I began to ask her some questions in the standard language and I discovered that she was the nicest thing She was seventy years old, had four children but her husband was dead She owns the vegetable plot under the bridge and she brought mulch in two baskets and spread it out on the concrete and put a cover over it She said her health was ok but she suffers from a terrible back ache For a woman working in the fields she is healthy for her age She showed no sign of agony she looked quite happy The peasant life is hard to understand they don’t complain About anything and they don’t have nothing With two buckets attached to a bamboo stick hanging across her shoulder she left to fetch water for her garden I looked towards the sky and the rain clouds were standing by Children across the stream were screaming and shouting There wasn’t a doubt that they weren’t having a very good time I left that place and made my way home But the old men under the tree had me spell bound We talked about geography, history and philosophy They weren’t happy about Uncle Sam because he was sucking The money from their cultural land, one of them did not make Any apology to speak out against Uncle Sam’s brutality I felt as if I was giving a lecture everyone seems to have an opinion No matter where you go the Devil is always the talk of the show I bid them goodbye and hurried away Something interesting caught my attention Some children eating fudge were very happy But one wearing a black tea-shirt stood out She had writing on her shirt saying “How is it going to end” Sometimes I asked myself that question too I read it out loud for them in English And everyone thought it was funny and laughed,they were very happy Children are quite amazing and they can make you happy I continue walking and thinking about everything I found myself entwined with another group of people One was wearing a purple shirt and another was talking loud Everyone ask the same questions “where are you from” And I always give them the same answer They said that they were from the same family We pounced upon another little crowd of old men playing games I have been seeing old men for most of the day what was the connection I started to wonder, am I missing something again or was it coincident The old man was weaving a special ball from bamboo It has to be done a special way but no one could help him because they did not study the tradition And could not hand it down to the younger generation Everyone stared at him but no one could help him He attempted to put in the weave several times but had to remove it because it declined I left that group and poked my head into another group of old men playing A strategy board game called Xingqi, two men sat at both ends of the board While a group of touters hang around They persuade the players which way to move And everyone was getting into the grove The touting was so loud both players did not know when to make the right move For one moment I thought they were in the boxing ring And the ring master was shouting where to land the punch In the end both men could not stand to lose so one man block the game to suppress the winner I left that place and headed home and stop quickly in the market to get ginger Luckily I learn the price of things or the vendor would have done me in She wanted to sell me a pound of ginger for eight dollar When it was sold two stall above her for half the price I returned to my abode and run around the track for what it is worth With my bag around my back and my ginger and cup in my hand I ran one lap around the track and instantly I got my energy back It was just a simple test to see how long I could hold my breath I don’t have to fret I could have done ten laps in an hour Miracles do happen and you have to position yourself to receive it Just when I thought the day was over Someone invited me out for dinner We went to a clean restaurant Had a simple meal and at last the day was complete Today was my day and I had it my way.