I LOVE the scene in the fallout shelter where he makes a feast for the boy. The boy is taking it all in. Is this coffee? he asks. Like it's this legendary drink he has only heard tell of but never hoped to experience! Can you imagine smelling coffee for the first time? When I was a little kid, my mom would always store coffee in a yellow Tupperware container, which she still uses. (Can you imagine owning a piece of Tupperware for 30-some years?) So, after the trip to the grocery store, I would always stand by as she opened the metal coffee can for the transfer to the Tupperware. And that first whiff of coffee as the can-opener popped the tin was so glorious. It was like some magical genie escaped his Maxwell House and filled the air with sweetness and promise. Even my sister, who never developed a taste for coffee, would stand by and marvel at the smell. Is this coffee? Yes.
And then he shows the kid butter! Here. You put the butter on your biscuits. Like this.
Wow.
And the kid is digging it but something's wrong.
Do you think we should thank the people? he asks.
Like, all on his own, the kid invents the idea of saying grace! It's magical.
The dad says What people?
And the kid says The people who gave us all this.
So then the kid says:
Dear people, thank you for all this food and stuff. We know that you saved it for yourself and if you were here we wouldn't eat it no matter how hungry we were and we're sorry that you didn't get to eat it and we hope that you're safe in heaven with God.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The fallout shelter might have been my favorite part of the book. You could really feel the joy and wonder they felt.
This was another unbearably sweet moment for the boy, coming up with the thank-you for the food. Amazing.
I had the same experience of coffee as a kid. My mom always bought Folgers, which was stored in the freezer. She would pop the lid open and hold it out for me to smell. Then we would smile at each other as if we'd just shared something wonderful.
You and your mom did that with coffee too?! Hehe.
(I can kind of see you and your madre on the road with a shopping cart full of necessities: lobster tails, margarita mix, maybe some fudge. She'd be like, "Look at those mangey cannibals over there; yuck! they sure could use a haircut and a bar of soap." And you'd tell her not to be so judgmental.)
Post a Comment