WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.690 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.690 --> 00:00:04.440 align:middle line:84% One of the greatest characters of my youth 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:10.320 align:middle line:84% was an Arab man who owned a grocery store 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:11.490 align:middle line:90% at the bottom of the hill. 00:00:11.490 --> 00:00:16.440 align:middle line:84% At that time, the roads on our side of town 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:19.530 align:middle line:90% were still unpaved. 00:00:19.530 --> 00:00:21.930 align:middle line:84% And I was telling one of the classes 00:00:21.930 --> 00:00:25.184 align:middle line:84% this morning how really interesting things would 00:00:25.184 --> 00:00:33.330 align:middle line:84% happen, or do happen in those parts of town 00:00:33.330 --> 00:00:37.770 align:middle line:84% where people are marginalized, it seems. 00:00:37.770 --> 00:00:42.600 align:middle line:84% They have not arrived at a comfortable place, 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.800 align:middle line:84% and you know still have some sense of personality, 00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:47.610 align:middle line:90% I suppose. 00:00:47.610 --> 00:00:51.618 align:middle line:84% I now live in the suburbs and you know I pray every night 00:00:51.618 --> 00:00:53.160 align:middle line:84% that somebody would shoot somebody so 00:00:53.160 --> 00:00:54.368 align:middle line:90% that we have some excitement. 00:00:54.368 --> 00:00:57.270 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:57.270 --> 00:01:03.550 align:middle line:84% Or-- you know, as long as it ain't me. 00:01:03.550 --> 00:01:08.010 align:middle line:90% So this guy's name was Sawaya. 00:01:08.010 --> 00:01:11.880 align:middle line:90% I went back several years ago. 00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:15.060 align:middle line:84% I hadn't gone back home in about 18 years. 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:22.060 align:middle line:84% And I was looking for my sister's grave. 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:23.485 align:middle line:90% She was a daughter of-- 00:01:23.485 --> 00:01:27.230 align:middle line:90% 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:30.950 align:middle line:84% how to say this, the father or the husband who 00:01:30.950 --> 00:01:33.680 align:middle line:90% abandoned my mother. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.600 align:middle line:84% Well, I didn't find that, but I came across Sawaya's grave, 00:01:38.600 --> 00:01:40.760 align:middle line:90% which was very interesting. 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:45.260 align:middle line:84% And it really brought back a lot of memories 00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:49.100 align:middle line:84% because he was such a vivid character. 00:01:49.100 --> 00:01:57.950 align:middle line:84% And he was paralyzed and he would walk around literally 00:01:57.950 --> 00:02:00.060 align:middle line:90% dragging one side of his body. 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:02.030 align:middle line:84% But yet he could still make me some ice cream 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:06.680 align:middle line:84% cones at the end of the transactions 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:10.580 align:middle line:84% when grandpa bought groceries, and we're cursing in Spanish 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:12.770 align:middle line:84% because he was so expensive, and so 00:02:12.770 --> 00:02:15.080 align:middle line:84% then I know that Sawaya knew what 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:17.540 align:middle line:90% the hell grandpa was saying. 00:02:17.540 --> 00:02:19.760 align:middle line:84% And it was so damn embarrassing but-- 00:02:19.760 --> 00:02:23.837 align:middle line:90% 00:02:23.837 --> 00:02:28.400 align:middle line:84% "Este Arabe cobra tanto" and the guy 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:32.800 align:middle line:84% would just keep on putting the grocery in a box. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.000 align:middle line:90% "El Arabe" 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.670 align:middle line:84% "Grandfather called him el Arabe, the old Arab who 00:02:39.670 --> 00:02:44.260 align:middle line:84% owned the grocery store at the bottom of the hill on the way 00:02:44.260 --> 00:02:45.490 align:middle line:90% to town. 00:02:45.490 --> 00:02:48.460 align:middle line:84% He wore black sleeves fastened by safety pins 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:54.580 align:middle line:84% over his rumpled white shirt, a green gambler's eyeshade-- 00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:59.170 align:middle line:84% round-rimmed serious glasses, a long soiled apron 00:02:59.170 --> 00:03:04.510 align:middle line:84% splashed with blood, always a day's growth or two 00:03:04.510 --> 00:03:10.720 align:middle line:84% of gray stubble, the white hair of a mad scientist. 00:03:10.720 --> 00:03:14.740 align:middle line:84% He would total the groceries with his good hand-- his right, 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:17.920 align:middle line:84% then pack them as grandpa complained in Spanish about his 00:03:17.920 --> 00:03:19.150 align:middle line:90% high prices-- 00:03:19.150 --> 00:03:21.175 align:middle line:90% The nerve of this old cripple!" 00:03:21.175 --> 00:03:24.310 align:middle line:90% 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:26.320 align:middle line:90% Oh, my grandpa didn't care. 00:03:26.320 --> 00:03:31.780 align:middle line:84% "I'm sure he understood, but his face betrayed nothing. 00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:35.830 align:middle line:84% Somehow grandpa always had a nickel left over for me. 00:03:35.830 --> 00:03:38.290 align:middle line:84% The old Arab would drag his left foot 00:03:38.290 --> 00:03:43.690 align:middle line:84% across the oiled wooden floor to the freezer, grab his left arm, 00:03:43.690 --> 00:03:46.030 align:middle line:84% place a cone in the lifeless hand, 00:03:46.030 --> 00:03:50.050 align:middle line:84% and dip a scoop of delicious chocolate swirled vanilla, 00:03:50.050 --> 00:03:56.470 align:middle line:84% and smile, rub my head affectionately, wink slyly, 00:03:56.470 --> 00:04:00.610 align:middle line:84% as if we belonged to some secret society that 00:04:00.610 --> 00:04:04.810 align:middle line:84% didn't allow grandfathers who complained 00:04:04.810 --> 00:04:06.550 align:middle line:90% about money as members." 00:04:06.550 --> 00:04:09.600 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:12.000 align:middle line:90%