David Town frequently emails his friends about his life in Coatepec. A bachelor, he lives with a Mexican family and spends time with another which he has become close to. He has a good life with them. I have been meaning to post some of his descriptions for some time. Here is something he wrote today.
The radiant expression on Imelda's face is enchanting and moving when she is preparing and fixing food, modest or otherwise, mixing her decorative cement in accord wioth her own formula, taking Oscar dos [Oscar jr] and Jordi to and from school, greeting and bidding her husband, Oscar, farewell, when he goes off to work or returns froim work, and even though I am at her house, almost every day, it always intrigues me how she seems so genuinely pleased when I enter the house. If Oscar walks in while I am there, he always pats me on the shoulder, stares into my eyes, smiles, and says "Hola" as he used to do with Charlie and Dorotrhy Sedgwick [David's late friends. He lived for many years with Dorothy], while extending his hand to be shaken. There is a newcomer in Oscar and Imelda's family, an eight week old puppy, named "Escrapi" or Scrappy in English that we love, play with, and are close to. He is barely ten inches long but is strong. His little house in the living room was invaded by a mouse the other day. That mouse is history. Scrappy can be a good scrapper. Imelda came home from getting the boys and found the mouse, put it, or its corpse, more precisely, in a plastic bag, and disposed of it.
Oscar and Imelda are not very happy about not knowing from day-to-day whether Oscar, in junior high, and Jordi, in primary school, will have school or not. Very irregular [due to the ongoing teachers' strike]. Jordi has to have school seven or eight straight Saturdays to make up for teachers still not always showing during the sporadic work stoppage. Beautiful here, most of the day. Night rain feasible. Humid now. About seventy degrees fahrenheit, I suspect. Jose Rey Salazar Piedra [whose room David rents] had a busy morning in his barber shop. Best wishes and warm regards.
David G. Town