personas hispanohablantes

While I was out in the ER waiting room this afternoon, a father and two of his kids sat down in the chairs next to me. The son was fascinated by my Asus Eee laptop, and the daughter, more interested in introducing herself, faced me and declared, "I'm five! I speak Spanish and English! Five plus five is TEN!"

The son, a couple years older and more worldly, asked me how much the computer cost. "About $350," I said.

"Wow, that's expensive," he said. Then he asked: "How many laptops do you have?"

I laughed. "Just this one!"

We spoke in Spanish for a bit, since I'd heard the father talking to the boy and girl in Spanish. My own Spanish is extremely basic, as I told the dad when he looked over to see his kids talking with me.

"Can I play a game on it?" asked the son, still eying the Asus.

The kids were charming, but their timing was poor. I would have said yes, but they had caught me right at 6:20, as I was getting ready to reenter the ER to see the second half of Mom's procedure.

By the time I finish with this hospital, how many languages will I have had the chance to speak? Here's hoping we meet some German speakers.


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