D
earest Mamacita:
Little Ian is now four pounds [1.75 kg] and out of the hospital, so now both babies are home. They moved to their new house. Leo was a big help doing his best to help carry all the heavy stuff. Rebecca was afraid he would overdo it, trying to prove how strong he was, and hurt himself.
The place still needs work, but it is coming along. When they bought it it did not even have water or power. Rebecca bought them a stove so they can cook. It looks like a nice neighbourhood - just too flat and treeless for my tastes.
Any money you can send will be a great help.
It seems like Ruthie married the right man. He is doing very well in trying circumstances. He made Ruthie breakfast in bed and even brought Rebecca flowers. I was so afraid Ruthie would get hooked up with some man who would just throw her aside. God is looking out for her.
In church Rebecca told the boys, "Pray for the babies!" She loves them. Her face lights up when she talks about them. She shows me the faces they make.
I saw Pittsburgh for the first time. It looked like a small Chicago with bridges, hills and river everywhere. It was way smaller than I expected. Even Cleveland seems bigger. Not far from the centre of town are sad, lonely streets that look like something from a Joyce Carol Oates book. Maybe they are.
I took a faster bus back and, having gone once already, it seemed shorter. I also made sure I would sleep through most of it. So it was pretty painless.
The book I read on the way to Cleveland was "The Road to Oxiana". It is written by Robert Byron, who travelled the world in the 1920s and 1930s and wrote about it.
Like Churchill he calls places by their old Greek and Roman names. When he lands in Cyprus he tells us it was just down a ways from where St Paul landed. When his ship passes by Greece he says, "Round the corner, in the next bay, twinkled the electricity of Gytheion."
Hector and I went to that Haitian place. The food was good, it was badly lit on purpose and they let us sit there and talk for hours. I hate it when places try to rush you out: "Here's the check." As if all you came for was to fill your belly. I had some Haitian fruit cola. It tasted familiar.
Both Hector and Rebecca agree with me that Maria has Tito on too much medicine. Rebecca says it will screw up his kidneys and liver. Does he have a doctor and does he know what is going on? It seems frightening to me. You would think he was an 80-year-old man. But I am no expert in these things.
Till next week,
Your son,
Abagond,
Sun Aug 3 06:33:00 UTC 2008
