We
were playing cards and Paolo was winning when suddenly he looked up: “Hey, Katy,
I owe you money,” he said.
“No you don’t,” I said, in Spanish, slapping a double seven and raking in the stack of cards. “What are you talking about?”
“Mom told me that the United States lent Honduras a whole lot of money and we never paid it back. So now every kid that’s born owes you lots and lots of money,” He laid another card. “Your turn!”
I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to respond. “You don’t have to worry about that,” I stammered, “You don’t owe me anything.”
I tried again, “A lot of that debt was cancelled and really a lot of the reason why Honduras is poor is the United States’ fault, so…” My Spanish isn’t good enough for complexities and nuances. Also I was forgetting that he was ten years old.
“I’ve only got eight pesos, though,” Paolo said chipperly, “So it will take a long time.”
“No you don’t,” I said, in Spanish, slapping a double seven and raking in the stack of cards. “What are you talking about?”
“Mom told me that the United States lent Honduras a whole lot of money and we never paid it back. So now every kid that’s born owes you lots and lots of money,” He laid another card. “Your turn!”
I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to respond. “You don’t have to worry about that,” I stammered, “You don’t owe me anything.”
I tried again, “A lot of that debt was cancelled and really a lot of the reason why Honduras is poor is the United States’ fault, so…” My Spanish isn’t good enough for complexities and nuances. Also I was forgetting that he was ten years old.
“I’ve only got eight pesos, though,” Paolo said chipperly, “So it will take a long time.”
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