| Change for Chiclets
I think of all the beggar children I've seen in Tegucigalpa, Tiaguana, Manilla, Istanbul, all exclaiming, Change for Chiclet, 'as if that phrase is some new international language for 'help.' I remember a Halloween I spent in Lisbon, Portugal. I sat with my cameraman watching the night go by. He was eating gobs of cracked corn, piling plates of shells before him. I drank Portuguese brandy. We watched beggar children make their approaches."Change for Chiclet, Change for Chiclet." I peeled off handfuls of escudos for them, feeling glad to give treats to children on Halloween. One small girl dared to touch my red hair and then scampered off around the corner when I turned my head suddenly. "Witch!' I heard her say to her friends. That night I had a terrible ear and headache. I dreamed children, nondescript but hungry in every way, were crawling across the floor for me. Help help Chiclet, Change for Chiclet. I stood on my bed and said, "I have nothing to give. I have nothing to give you,' and they disappeared into a big hole under my bed as more appeared at the door. I said, "come in, there is love in this house. You must be here, let us live in peace.' and I had nothing to give them. On the plane back from Lisbon I had to sit in the middle of seven Texans. I decided to pretend I was German, visiting the United States for the first time. 'German, oh really? Well we just came from there.' And they took pictures with their kodak instamatics. They watched the latest Chuck Norris movie on the airplane. They stacked their trays up in front of themselves, piling peanut shells and sampler bottles into leaning towers. They asked me where I was staying in Washington D.C., and would I come visit them in Houston? Could they give me their cards? They could get me free Nautilus membership and an American Gold Card. They knew some young men who'd love to meet me, and had I ever been in the States for Thanksgiving, and, oh of course I hadn't, oh silly me, and would I please please please plan to join them for the holidays, and was I staying that long, oh come on do do do, and if I needed anything to call their business offices...They had some extra money they didn't know what to do with, all these danged Portuguese pesos they'd gotten stuck with. They said I'd might as well take them so that on my way back through Portugal some day on my way to Germany I could exchange them, and in the meantime, did I need any more money? © Charlotte London |