Murder and Something About a Race Car Driver
by Rease Kirchner
The other day, I had to take a long taxi ride to pick up Soren, a 9-year-old boy who I work with. On the ride home, Soren and I got into an excited conversation about board games. Keep in mind that Soren is actually from the United States, but has spent the last 3 years of his life here in Buenos Aires, so while we both speak Spanish fluently, we still converse in English. Of course we were not trying to hide our riveting board game conversation from the driver, but we were not aware he listening, either.
Hungry Hungry Hippos is fun times for all ages
I wowed Soren with the arsenal of games I have at my home in the US, including gems such as Guess Who, Kerplunk, and Hungry Hungry Hippos. Now, in some ways, Soren is a typical 9-year-old kid who can appreciate the simplicity/awesomeness of a game that involves nothing more than smashing your hand into a plastic hippo repeatedly, but Soren is also a very special child with complex interests. Soren is a genius. I mean, a for-real genius, one that can do math problems at the age of 9 that I cannot even fathom doing. A kid like Soren can appreciate games with a little more substance. He and I still cannot agree on Monopoly (he loves it, I tend to hate it after about 20 minutes), but I knew we would agree on Clue.
I excitedly explained to him the ridiculous names and made sure he knew that if we ever play, I would insist on being Miss Scarlet. I explained the rooms, the weapons and the little check boxes on your detective paper. He was especially amused by the strange weapons, mainly the candlestick. We were having a nice laugh over the idea of a candlestick being listed as a cause of death when I noticed the taxi driver shifting in his seat and shooting us weird looks.
Murder and something about a race car driver
He turned around and asked Soren (in Spanish) “Hey, how old are you?” Soren told him he was 9. The driver grunted and then looked at me disapprovingly before saying “don´t you think he is a little young to understand what you are talking about?” I laughed and said “Oh no, not Soren. Soren is a very smart kid. In fact, he is a genius. He loves logic puzzles.” Soren piped in and said “I was on TV!” Normally, I would have gently reminded Soren to remember his humility, but this driver was starting to annoy me and I thought some bragging was in order. He was on TV due to his genius status and this driver needed to know it.
The driver was unimpressed. He added “yeah, well, a lot of people can drive at 1000 kilometers per hour but that does not mean they should.” I had no idea what the hell this guy was getting at, so I ignored him. However, he did not wish to be ignored and chimed in again “you are giving this kid the knowledge to commit murder”. That is right, the driver accused me of giving a 9 year old instructions on how to commit murder.
We were talking about Clue.
I was so flabbergasted by the insanity of this accusation that I just started laughing. Soren, being true to his 9-year-old self, was completely ignoring this whole exchange, just wanted to know when I could bring this game back from the States to him. He was squirming with excitement. The driver was clearly very annoyed with me and my laughter at this point, so he scolded Soren, this time in broken English, “Smart boy. Put feet down floor. Thank you. You are welcome.”
Those were the last words the driver said to us for the rest of the ride. So here is my message for you, rude eavesdropping taxi driver: A lot of people can drive a taxi and talk at the same time, but it doesn’t mean they should.
Rease is a US citizen who fled the Midwest in favor of ex-pat life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is bilingual and is very capable of cussing you out in Spanish. She loves gaining and sharing knowledge of local cultures, customs and adventure, and she especially loves getting sassy with anyone who gets in her way. Her favorite place in the world is any artisan ice cream shop in Argentina.
Featured Image: Creative Commons photo by Brian Holsclaw
