MIXING POT

 

on a bus home from language school

a forty something white Englishman of Italian descent

though himself never taught the language

speaks his best French with a black teacher from Haiti

 

the conversation does not go unnoticed

by some high school students sitting across from them

two girls and a boy between

also black

 

the white Englishman with the Mediterranean complexion

glances over just at the right moment 

to see them giggling at him

and the black teacher

 

clear in the teenagers’ faces

not to mock

but simply happy

to be living in a place where such a thing is possible

 

 

© 2005  Chris Sorrenti