Merle Collins (Granada)
Por: Merle Collins
Pearls
When the marines stopped the car
and ordered them out, he laughed.
When they were told to open
the boot so it could be searched,
he laughed. One marine said they
were looking for Cubans, and
he laughed. The marines lifted
the mats off the floor of the
car, and he laughed. They finished
the search, touched their hats, waved them
on through Pearls, and he laughed. He
said, this is my country and
a foreign soldier just searched
me, and he laughed so hard that
he shook. This experience is
precious, he said; you cant buy
it. He grinned and added, But
we paid cash for it. Then he
said, The worst thing is, I guess
we invited this. Chicken
don't look up and squawk when it
know chicken hawk is around.
He laughed again and said, it's
the most natural thing to
resist an invader, don't
you think? He considered and
mused, Even, and he paused, even
if you don't support the ones
they say they come to get. He
said, The point is, they're inside
of your house and they're acting
like it's theirs. He laughed. They were
looking for Cubans; that's not
why they came. He concluded,
I guess resisting would be
illegal. And he laughed. Said,
Once, resisting slavery
was illegal. And the worst
thing is, we bring ourselves to this. He said, you're always
the one with answers. What you
think we should do? She glanced at
him and was silent. She watched
the road as she drove and he
laughed like he would never stop.
