Laughed at by a Child

 

 My grandaunt didn’t have a child. Her husband passed away. She had Alzheimer’s disease. I have been taking care of her since 2007. I called her every day. I visited her every week. I took her to the hospital every month.

 We used to go to a small internal medicine clinic. The clinic was always crowded. We had to wait for a quite a long time to see the doctor.

 Taking care of an Alzheimer’s patient requires this kind of wasteful time. In my case, I used this waiting time to study foreign languages, English and Chinese. I brought a clipboard. I always wrote down example sentences.

 One day, my grandaunt and I were sitting on the seat in the waiting room. I was studying. A child who sat next to me started to laugh. She seemed to be a third or fourth grader at elementary school. She laughed and whispered to her mother, who sat opposite to me. Her mother tried to calm her down. I was sure she was laughing at me. I didn’t know why.

 I went to the restroom and checked my appearance on the mirror. Nothing was on my face. My nose hair didn’t show. My fly was not open. It could be my misunderstanding. She was not laughing at me. A young girl could laugh without reason. I came back to my seat and continued my studying. The girl kept laughing. I ignored her.

 The front-desk clerk called a patient’s name. The mother and daughter responded. I solved the mystery.

 Their name was Chinese. The girl’s father or mother, or both of them, was Chinese. They lived in Japan. The girl could be a natural-born bilingual.

 OK, I was studying Chinese. I started it at over 30 years old. So for Chinese people, my studying level could be at first or second grade at elementary school. Of course I am sure I made mistakes on my clipboard. I was a middle-aged man. It must be funny to her.

 I should not have ignored her. I should have talked to her in Chinese. She could have been the best teacher ever. I missed a great chance!

Picture by Pinkari