During the afternoon in Danbury, CT…the massage therapist comes to the house and speaks to me directly in Portuguese and I answer simply ‘Yes’. She feels encouraged to continue and I nod and make some some sense of it, a few words hanging on here and there and quite close to Spanish.
It really doesn’t matter. The two dogs yip and yap and we both smile. The world loves a jumping, joyful canine. I smell lavender and the incense upstairs and she keeps talking and heads off to set up her table. I catch her final words…’Praise God’ in Portuguese and I answer in Spanish and in English.
We’re good. We understand each other from a thousand miles away and a lifetime apart. I quiet the dogs and we settle down; with my book in my lap and her efforts at the table continue upstairs and the rooms are awash in scent…
690 Saint Paul 