Pale snow descends from grayscale skies, draping the floor below in a thick sheet of white. Outside lies bare and untouched by any marks or signs of tamper. Vibrant warm sunrise lines the horizon, contrasting the softness of the snow with a loose hold around each other. A weight upon myself seems to have dispersed by this pleasant distraction. It is beautiful.
Unfortunately not enough to distract me entirely from the inevitable guest arriving soon. No matter how long or how hard I stare, she’ll still be here eventually. And that would be my grandma. I know she’s nice and all, but I can't understand what she’s saying most of the time since she kind of doesn’t speak English, and that’s if she’s even saying anything. Every time she comes over with my uncle, my mom always leaves me alone with her, while they go to god knows what. Probably looking at tables. And we just sit there, at the table, couch, whatever. We just sit there, doing nothing, she doesn’t talk to me, and it’s not like I could either.
As I continue to contemplate my thoughts, a small white car pulls up in our driveway, indenting the once-untouched snow.
It’s them isn’t
I thought with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. I quickly shuffle to my feet only taking a couple of steps toward the stairs until I see my mom making her way down.
“We’re going to check out some things for the house with your uncle again and you’re going to stay with grandma for now okay?”. She said once she reached the bottom
“Also, please try to talk to her at least. I know you, well, enjoy her company. But she does so please give her a chance will you?”
“Fine, whatever makes you happy ma,” I said under my breath.
She was already at the door by the time it slid out of my mouth, to let them in. The door slowly creeps open, presenting a tall short haired man, relatively younger than my mom, and a short elderly woman wearing clothes that were unfamiliar to me. My uncle's eyes stare straight toward my mom, not making any mind to me at all, but I do the same to him to make it equal. Both talked for a while about things I could care less about. Probably would be taxes and mortgages, just boring adult stuff. They finally stop blabbering about something and my mom’s head diverts towards me and says,
“Well best we get going now, we’ll be back maybe in 3 hours? Anyways I love you and,” she gets closer to my face, “maybe you’ll find something interesting about yeay.”
Before I know it they’re both out of the door and leaving me and her alone, again. We stared at each other for a minute, before she, very gradually, stepped to the couch. I did the same. I pondered on whether I should take my mom’s advice or not. If I didn’t, it would just be as boring as always, but if I did, maybe, just maybe it’ll be a tad bit enjoyable. So with the newborn knowledge of Khmer I keep in my brain, I ask,
“Yeay do you want te?”
She looked puzzled at what I said, I really should have listened to my mom speak more.
“Oh um, te,” I tried to act out someone drinking something but I think it looked more like someone brushing their teeth.
She let out a soft “ah” and nodded her head yes while giving me a slight smile. I guess this is kind of better than last time. I get up to the kitchen to start up the kettle while searching through the cabinets for tea. Once found, I made my way back to the couch bringing two mugs and the two tea bags, and settling those on the coffee table. The kettle screams indicating that it’s done so I bring that over too.
Slowly, with careful movements, I poured the tea into our mugs while she hummed an unfamiliar melody. It didn’t sound like any of the music I was used to. I settled the boiling pot aside and sat down again.
“Yeay, what are you singing?” I asked while attempting to act out someone holding a microphone.
I think she got what I was asking when she nodded her head. She pointed toward herself and replied,
“Singer young.”
I think she meant she used to be a singer when she was younger, not answering the exact question but honestly this was more fascinating.
“Woah really? Nowenea sing?” I questioned hoping that was the right saying.
I see her reach into her bag, digging around for something, for a thick wallet. It opened up to a long row of different pictures. She held it close to her face letting her finger slide down until it stopped and she turns to me and points to the picture. There it showed a young lady singing on a small-sized deck next to a guitarist.
“Yeay saat,” I remarked
I catch from the corner of my eye her smiling again, but this time it had a tinge of sadness in it. She points at the guitarist,
“This ta,,” she whispers.
I’d never seen my grandpa before this, she probably misses him. She pointed at another photo. This one contains a maybe 8-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. Both were smiling and sitting on a suburban curbside. I’m guessing this is mom and uncle. She continued to show me more photos of her past. A lot of younger photos of my mom and uncle. And some photos of herself. Before I knew it they were already home knocking on the door. I really should listen to my mom more.
Grandma really wasn’t that bad after all.
Key:
Te = tea
Yeay = grandma
Ta= grandpa
Saat = pretty
Nowenea = roughly where is it or where did you
Unfortunately not enough to distract me entirely from the inevitable guest arriving soon. No matter how long or how hard I stare, she’ll still be here eventually. And that would be my grandma. I know she’s nice and all, but I can't understand what she’s saying most of the time since she kind of doesn’t speak English, and that’s if she’s even saying anything. Every time she comes over with my uncle, my mom always leaves me alone with her, while they go to god knows what. Probably looking at tables. And we just sit there, at the table, couch, whatever. We just sit there, doing nothing, she doesn’t talk to me, and it’s not like I could either.
As I continue to contemplate my thoughts, a small white car pulls up in our driveway, indenting the once-untouched snow.
It’s them isn’t
I thought with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. I quickly shuffle to my feet only taking a couple of steps toward the stairs until I see my mom making her way down.
“We’re going to check out some things for the house with your uncle again and you’re going to stay with grandma for now okay?”. She said once she reached the bottom
“Also, please try to talk to her at least. I know you, well, enjoy her company. But she does so please give her a chance will you?”
“Fine, whatever makes you happy ma,” I said under my breath.
She was already at the door by the time it slid out of my mouth, to let them in. The door slowly creeps open, presenting a tall short haired man, relatively younger than my mom, and a short elderly woman wearing clothes that were unfamiliar to me. My uncle's eyes stare straight toward my mom, not making any mind to me at all, but I do the same to him to make it equal. Both talked for a while about things I could care less about. Probably would be taxes and mortgages, just boring adult stuff. They finally stop blabbering about something and my mom’s head diverts towards me and says,
“Well best we get going now, we’ll be back maybe in 3 hours? Anyways I love you and,” she gets closer to my face, “maybe you’ll find something interesting about yeay.”
Before I know it they’re both out of the door and leaving me and her alone, again. We stared at each other for a minute, before she, very gradually, stepped to the couch. I did the same. I pondered on whether I should take my mom’s advice or not. If I didn’t, it would just be as boring as always, but if I did, maybe, just maybe it’ll be a tad bit enjoyable. So with the newborn knowledge of Khmer I keep in my brain, I ask,
“Yeay do you want te?”
She looked puzzled at what I said, I really should have listened to my mom speak more.
“Oh um, te,” I tried to act out someone drinking something but I think it looked more like someone brushing their teeth.
She let out a soft “ah” and nodded her head yes while giving me a slight smile. I guess this is kind of better than last time. I get up to the kitchen to start up the kettle while searching through the cabinets for tea. Once found, I made my way back to the couch bringing two mugs and the two tea bags, and settling those on the coffee table. The kettle screams indicating that it’s done so I bring that over too.
Slowly, with careful movements, I poured the tea into our mugs while she hummed an unfamiliar melody. It didn’t sound like any of the music I was used to. I settled the boiling pot aside and sat down again.
“Yeay, what are you singing?” I asked while attempting to act out someone holding a microphone.
I think she got what I was asking when she nodded her head. She pointed toward herself and replied,
“Singer young.”
I think she meant she used to be a singer when she was younger, not answering the exact question but honestly this was more fascinating.
“Woah really? Nowenea sing?” I questioned hoping that was the right saying.
I see her reach into her bag, digging around for something, for a thick wallet. It opened up to a long row of different pictures. She held it close to her face letting her finger slide down until it stopped and she turns to me and points to the picture. There it showed a young lady singing on a small-sized deck next to a guitarist.
“Yeay saat,” I remarked
I catch from the corner of my eye her smiling again, but this time it had a tinge of sadness in it. She points at the guitarist,
“This ta,,” she whispers.
I’d never seen my grandpa before this, she probably misses him. She pointed at another photo. This one contains a maybe 8-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. Both were smiling and sitting on a suburban curbside. I’m guessing this is mom and uncle. She continued to show me more photos of her past. A lot of younger photos of my mom and uncle. And some photos of herself. Before I knew it they were already home knocking on the door. I really should listen to my mom more.
Grandma really wasn’t that bad after all.
Key:
Te = tea
Yeay = grandma
Ta= grandpa
Saat = pretty
Nowenea = roughly where is it or where did you
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