六 蛇 击 : S I X S N A K E S S T R I K E

At work instead of counting the seconds, I just feel my pulse.

In the morning I am the fool. They stare as I crudely gesture to the pineapple I want to eat. And after repeating herself twice, she holds up three fingers to indicate the price. I take my change and gurgle a “thunk ew” and walk off, chewing my speared fruit.

In the evening I am a great sage. They sit awaiting the small scrap I will teach them for the day. He repeats again and again but he keeps dropping his S’s and the strange phrase sits stiffly without context or comprehension. He can only answer the mechanical simplified lines I’ve scripted for him and so I feel both bored and powerful when I ask how him how his day was.

I was trying to teach my class the word “grows”

I said “a tree grows, a baby grows, what else grows?”

A ten year old Chinese boy thought for a minute and then shot up his hand, “Negroes!”