Wednesday, June 18

A family gathering was happening in Chile. My aunt's house was decked out for the party. There were also a lot of pigs running around. Little piglets and large pigs were all over the house. My aunt kept asking us to hug them and love them--there was one in particular that was different and needed extra care.

At dinner, I stood up and introduced myself to everyone. Everyone was extremely nice and gracious. After dinner, at the end of the meeting, I stood at the door and shook everyone's hand goodbye. A lot of ladies whom I'd never met all shook my hand and told me what pleasure it'd been to meet me.

I went outside and as I was getting into the car I realized I'd left my shoes inside. I asked my dad if I should walk back and get them and he said he'd drop me off closer to the door.

We drove into the city, he stopped the car and said "you can walk from here, get your shoes, and walk back home."

I did.

On the way back home through the city, I realized that it was San Jose. It wasn't St. Louis. (I guess I've always lived in cities with Saint's names). I walked through the narrow alleys in between houses and made my way back to my aunt's.

There, a trial had been set up to punish me for what I'd done. I was shocked. I didn't think I had done anything particularly bad. As a matter of fact I don't think I knew what I had done. Why was I being tried?

Later, in the living room, I sat opposite my entire family (cousins, aunts, uncles). They sat on a huge, long, white couch, and I was on a smaller couch with my cousin Ignacio. They were all playing a game where they had to go down the line and each person had to name a type of law. There could be no repeats.

My mother had just gone as I sat down. She had named the "Bulk Law" (Ley del Tuco in Spanish). I'd never heard of this one and she explained that it was the law that encompassed all those kinds of adages and proverbs. My cousin complained that that was too vague and general. I agreed. She stuck to it.

The game kept winding around the room and when it came time for me to add my law I realized that all the ones I tried to say had already been said.
"Law of Airplane Models," I tried.
Already said.
"Law of Marriages."
Already said.

I don't think I ever got a good one. I was tried and sentenced before the game was over (though I can't remember my sentence).