Canutito discovers ‘las maravillas del común’
It was el año de la gran nevada; it had been snowing unceasingly toda la semana. La pila de leña was all covered con nieve; every single stick of firewood in the woodpile estaba snuggled under a thick frozen blanket. Las pipas de agua were also heladas and with no running water, era evidente que los toilets no estaban trabajando either. Canutito was up early helping grampo sweep a trail hasta el común viejo. He was all excitão because he had never seen the inside of a común. Ever since he had been un babyto, Canutito had just used el basín en el cuarto de dormir to make chee. He was too big para usar el chamber pot ahora though so he was clearing una path to uncharted territorio.
As he was barriendo una veredita hasta el old outhouse, he turned to grampo and asked him: “Grampo, will the común have hot and cold running agua como el bathroom que tenemos inside the house?”
“No, m’hijo,” Grampo Caralampio explained, “I think que tú tienes muncha imaginación. I think que en tu mente, el común es un templo elegante como el Taj Majal. In fact, it is just un cuartito donde hago keep todos mis tools como el rake yel cabador until I have to use them.”
Canutito just kept on clearing la veredita, sweeping la nieve to the right y hacia la izquierda. Cada vez que hacia huff and puff, little plumitas de resuello helado came out of his nose. At long last, él y su grampo reached the door del común and tried to pry it open porque estaba helada. Finally the Canutito caught sight del inner sanctum del común: There were monitos pintãos all over the walls y el techo was all empapelão with pictures del catálogo.
“Wow!” exclaimed Canutito mirando todo con great wonder, “Parece que tenemos our very own Sistine Chapel! Parece como el trabajo del Michelangelo!”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, m’hijo,” grampo chuckled. Y luego he explained que todos los drawings on the wall del común eran tic-tac-toe squares que él y su hermanito had drawn una tarde when they were young y había estado raining. They had played a la pitarría haciendo Xs and Os until they got tired y luego they had papered the roof con monas del Montgomery Ward’s catalogue.
Still, Canutito estaba todo impressed, especialmente cuando he looked down y vio something que parecía un altar. He asked grampo ,“Grampo, ¿por qué hay dos openings en esa mesita?”
“Esa parte es el toilet, m’hijo,” grampo said. “Hay dos openings porque people used to go to the restroom in pairs that way they could talk y mirar el catalogue entre los dos. A veces dos hombres would go hacer su business juntos and they would just sit there por muncho tiempo chupando cigarros y hablando while they finished.”
Just then Canutito spotted un little comuncito along side of the big one que tenía los dos holes. “What is that little cosita down there, grampo?” he asked curiously as he pointed hacia el comuncito.
“A veces,” Grampo Caralampio begin, “toda la familia would go pa’l común at the same time. Los niños used to be afraid que they might fall pa’dentro del pozo so their dads would make smaller comuncitos para que los niños could joined them haciendo caca también.”
“That is kind of weird, ¿qué no, grampo?” Canutito questioned him.
“Not really, m’hijo,” Grampo Caralampio said. “Es una cosa muy natural but nowadays si no tenemos un triple lock en la puerta del restroom y ponemos flores y perfume y música inside, next to the pillowy-billowy toilet paper, no podemos funcionar. Now eso está bien weird!”
Canutito looked down at el catálogo de Montgomery Ward’s y por un momento he thought of asking grampo just what,that was used for pero he decided que he really didn’t want to know, porque it might damage the magic of el común ...