An Exotic Flower Christmas
On Friday night, M1 came home, with the Exotic Flower in tow. They joined Nando and I in the lounge. As per his habit, M1 grabbed the remote and selected "Dangerous Minds," to watch. He and Nando have seen it before, but the Flower hadn't, and neither had I. At one point in the film, Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays a high school teacher, is asking her class to come up with some verbs. M1 asked, "what's a verb? Is a verb a 'doing' word?" I was stunned. As ignorant as I thought he was, I would never have suspected that he would be unsure of what a verb is.
The Exotic Flower tried to answer him. "It's a descriptive word, like 'blue,' " she explains, wrongly. She's beautiful, but not exactly the cleverest flower of the bunch. It was like the blind leading the blind.
I looked at Nando and he was shaking his head, giggling. Nando correctly explains that a verb is an action word. I inform the Flower that what she described is an adjective. English is not Nando's native language and he's only been speaking it for five years. He left school at fourteen and yet he knows English grammar better than M1, for whom it's his native language. As the Flower grew up overseas, I can forgive her a little. I'm not sure what her native language is.
After the film ended, Nando went up to bed. Not long afterwards, I went to my room to listen to Bill Buckley, on LBC 97.3, London (Sky Channel 0177 or via the net, at: http://www.lbc973.co.uk/ ), leaving the two rocket scientists downstairs, cuddling on one of the settees. I haven't spoken to Bill for quite a while, so I called his show. I told him about finally seeing the short film, "The Whistle," which I was a featured performer in. It was nice to finally see my name in some credits. Bill had me recreate my role, live, on air.
After staying up till past 3AM, listening to Bill, I slept in, late. So did everyone else. I was the first downstairs, on Saturday, having breakfast at just past noon. Nando was the next up. He left the house at 1PM, to go meet a friend at a pub, to watch football together. Finally, M1 and the Flower came downstairs, to go into the Bracknell town centre. I contemplated asking them if I could join them, as I need to pick up something from a shop in town. I asked the Flower what they were doing. "They're taking me Christmas shopping," she replied.
"They?" I was confused. There was only one other person with her, M1, so who are "they?" She explained that M1 and her mother were taking her to buy her Christmas presents. Since they were going with her mother, I decided not to try to tag along. "They're taking you with them to buy Christmas presents for you? Won't that spoil the surprise?"
"I don't like surprises," she said.
"What about when you were born?" I asked. "That must have been a surprise." M1 chuckled at my comment.
"I don't remember any of that," she said, innocently.
"I bet you didn't see that coming," I added. She smiled sweetly and they walked out the door, leaving me alone in the house. Having her mother and boyfriend buy her Christmas pressies in front of her seemed like it spoils things. The Flower was starting to sound like one of the spoiled brats on her favorite TV show, "My Super Sweet 16."
The Exotic Flower tried to answer him. "It's a descriptive word, like 'blue,' " she explains, wrongly. She's beautiful, but not exactly the cleverest flower of the bunch. It was like the blind leading the blind.
I looked at Nando and he was shaking his head, giggling. Nando correctly explains that a verb is an action word. I inform the Flower that what she described is an adjective. English is not Nando's native language and he's only been speaking it for five years. He left school at fourteen and yet he knows English grammar better than M1, for whom it's his native language. As the Flower grew up overseas, I can forgive her a little. I'm not sure what her native language is.
After the film ended, Nando went up to bed. Not long afterwards, I went to my room to listen to Bill Buckley, on LBC 97.3, London (Sky Channel 0177 or via the net, at: http://www.lbc973.co.uk/ ), leaving the two rocket scientists downstairs, cuddling on one of the settees. I haven't spoken to Bill for quite a while, so I called his show. I told him about finally seeing the short film, "The Whistle," which I was a featured performer in. It was nice to finally see my name in some credits. Bill had me recreate my role, live, on air.
After staying up till past 3AM, listening to Bill, I slept in, late. So did everyone else. I was the first downstairs, on Saturday, having breakfast at just past noon. Nando was the next up. He left the house at 1PM, to go meet a friend at a pub, to watch football together. Finally, M1 and the Flower came downstairs, to go into the Bracknell town centre. I contemplated asking them if I could join them, as I need to pick up something from a shop in town. I asked the Flower what they were doing. "They're taking me Christmas shopping," she replied.
"They?" I was confused. There was only one other person with her, M1, so who are "they?" She explained that M1 and her mother were taking her to buy her Christmas presents. Since they were going with her mother, I decided not to try to tag along. "They're taking you with them to buy Christmas presents for you? Won't that spoil the surprise?"
"I don't like surprises," she said.
"What about when you were born?" I asked. "That must have been a surprise." M1 chuckled at my comment.
"I don't remember any of that," she said, innocently.
"I bet you didn't see that coming," I added. She smiled sweetly and they walked out the door, leaving me alone in the house. Having her mother and boyfriend buy her Christmas pressies in front of her seemed like it spoils things. The Flower was starting to sound like one of the spoiled brats on her favorite TV show, "My Super Sweet 16."
posted by Joey B at 6:46 PM
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