‘La familia’ has ‘un’ Crock-Pot ‘y un’ crack pot
Canutito had been un poco enfermo for a couple of days. Había misteão sus classes por tres días so Grama Cuca asked the doctor to write una excuse para él. Ahora que he was feeling un poco mejor, Canutito walked to school con la excusa del doctor en la mano. He handed it over to his teacher, la Mrs. C de Vaca.
Mrs. C. de Vaca was una new teacher de Santa Fe and she didn’t approve of children que misteaban sus clases even when they were sick. She just took la excusa from Canutito, wadded it up and threw it en el wastepaper basket. Then she turned to Canutito and told him, “Dile a tu doctor that he has no more authority to write you una excusa to miss school classes than I have to write you una prescripción for medicine!” She raised her eyebrows y siguió trabajando.
Canutito sat down con el estómago revuelto; He always got un upset stomach cuando las personas no estaban acting murre nice. Today though, la Grama Cuca had packed un lonchecito for him that consisted en un frasquito de poleaditas. La gente had used this jarful of homemade cinnamon gravy to settle stomach disorders por muchos siglos.
Somehow Canutito struggled con su dolor de estómago for the rest of the day mientras que la mestra talked about las fractions y los decimal points. Even if he had wanted to, Canutito no podía concentrar en la lección. Gracias a Dios que finally sonó la campana y todos los escueleros quedaron dismissed for the day. Canutito walked slowly pa’tras until he got home.
As he entered la cocina he noticed que su grama was not standing cerca de la estufa cooking como she used to do todos los días, Insteand she was leaning over una ollita eléctrica que era avocado-colored con un glass top that was arriba de la mesa.
“¿Qué es esa cosa, grama?” Canutito asked her as he put down sus libros.
“Ésta es la latest invention, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca replied. “Se llama ‘un Crock-Pot’. I am cooking you some stew en ella pa’la cena. Tu grampo found it allá en la tienda y pagó 12 dollars for it. I put some carrots y coles con carne into the water y ahora voy a ploguearla allá en el plug on the wall.”
Canutito touched the metal surface del Crock-Pot and remarked que parecía a un UFO como uno que he had seen en un science-fiction thriller en el TV.
Canutito put down la cabeza arriba de la mesa and he took a nap por una hora con la vava chorreando on top of the table. When he woke up de su siesta, he could smell el stew de zanahorias, cabbage and meat en el Crock-Pot. He knew que su calentura was down porque ahora tenía hambre. With his fever down, Canutito se preparó para comer caldo made en el CrockPot eléctrico.
Just as he dipped la cuchara into his bowl, Grampo Caralampio came into the kitchen también. He grabbed the spoon que Grama Cuca had placed by his bowl. He looked at the spoon and then he hurled esa cuchara across the kitchen, into the sink. Grama Cuca looked up at him and said: “Sorry, viejo; I forgot.”
Canutito miró de uno al otro, not understanding por qué el grampo había zumbado su cuchara into the sink.
“Tu grampo es muy supersticioso, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca explained as she brought him otra cuchara. “I forgot que whenever your grampo eats con la cuchara que está ‘made in Japan’, he is sure that it will cause a change in the weather and it will snow. Whenever he throws the spoon, tengo que traerle una que no es una ‘japana’.”
Now Canutito smiled porque he knew que la familia not only had un Crock-Pot pero un crack pot también…