Canutito learns about ‘el cielo y el infierno’
La semana after Canutito had learned about el Purgatorio, he was sitting around thinking about todo lo que su grama had told him about needing to share sus cositas and to help a las otras personas whenever possible. He always liked como su Grama Cuca used to take las cosas más complicadas y explicarlas de la manera que era very easy to understand.
He walked pa’la cocina where she found grama busy planchando ropa. As he watched her ironing clothes, he approached her y se sentó en una silleta next to la tabla de planchar. He ran his fingers along the ironing board como una spider, trying to get grama to notice decque él estaba allí.
Grama Cuca looked up de la camisa que estaba planchando and she asked him, “¿Qué pasa, m’hijo? You look como que you need to preguntarme something very important.”
Canutito hesitated por un momento y luego he said: “Do yo remember last week cuando you were telling me about el hombre que estaba en el Purgatorio ?It got me to thinking about las diferencias entre heaven and hell.”
Grama Cuca turned off la plancha and she sat down con el muchachito. “You are asking por algo que es muy complicated, m’hijo,” she said.
“I know que I am, grama,” Canutito replied, “pero if anybody can make algo muy colplicão, into something very easy, it is you.”
“Well, let me think por un momento, m’hijo,” Grama cuca prefaced. Entonces she began to tell Canutito otra historia :“En una vez había un hombre who used to pray mucho. He wanted to know la diferencia entre heaven and hell,” she paused a mirar a Canutito.
When she saw que estaba bien atencionão, she continued: “In any case,” she said, “un ángel came down and took al hombre al cielo and showed him a huge room grandote donde había una mesa largotota. On top of that long table there was a lot ot food. Era una fiesta de toda clase de goodies. Este era el this banqueting hall of heaven. Había places on both sides de la mesa larga where people could sit. La única cosa que seemed un poco strange era que no era finger food ese banquete. That heavenly banquet had to be eaten con tenedores muy largos; como four feet long,” grama paused.
Canutito looked at her, and asked her, “Grama, how can anybody eat con forks que tienen cuatro pies de largos? I think que la comida would get cold antes que I can put it en mi boca.”
Grama no respondió; she just went on con su cuento: “The angel then took al hombre para ver el infierno. What do you think que he saw in hell, m’hijo?” she asked.
“I think que he probably saw al diablo tormentando a las personas there,” Canutito said.
“Wrong, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca said. “El hombre estaba todo surprised de ver que en el infierno there was a long table loaded de todas kinds of golocinas also. Parecía que both heaven and hell eran identical, down to the long tenedores.” Grama paused a prender la plancha and started ironing again.
“Let me get this right, grama” Canutito said. “So you are telling me que both Heaven y el Infierno tienen una long banquet table con munchas cosas pero que they both have forks that make it impossible de comer la comida en la mesa?”
“Sí, m’hijo,” grama said. “Pero in hell, las souls are hungry and angry porque no pueden comer and so they run around la mesa stabbing each other con los tenedores largos. Pero el el cielo las almas take the long forks and feed each other across the table.”
“Entonces, la diferencia between heaven and hell is como las personas use the gifts que God gives them, grama?” Canutito asked her.
“Sí, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca replied. “Life and death are all about sharing todas las cosas que Dios nos da.”
Canutito went back pa’ su cuarto todo contento con la answer de su grama …