Old-timers enjoyed ‘haciendo tióliga’
Ahora que era springtime, los días were getting longer and Canutito liked going outside a jugar con sus amiguitos until the sun set como a las nueve de la tarde. La primavera was always la temporada favorita for the neighborhood kids. A veces los muchachitos would play a la monita ciega which was called blind-man’s bluf ’ en inglés. The kids would tie una garra vieja across los ojos de la monita, then they would spin him around while they would bob and duck all around haciendo fuerza not to be touched.
Even the grown-ups se sentaban en el portal on warm evenings buscando tióliga, as chat and gossip sessions were called. Sometimes los viejitos would hold a los niños on their laps, haciéndoles agasajos; tickling them under their chins para que hicieran coo. Una tarde, cuando los adultos estaban sitting out on the porch, the kids were playing tag. Canutito ran up en el portal and turned back to the other kids, yelling: “Chico-lock, chico-lock!” He pretended to slam an invisible door detrás de él.
Mana Trinidad estaba sitting en el portal buscando tióliga with Grama Cuca. She turned to her and asked: “Cuca, ¿por qué decíamos ‘chico-lock’ cuando we didn’t want to be it, jugando a tag?”
Grama Cuca answered her: “Actually, decíamos ‘chico-lock’ porque había un old television show canadense called Mr. Dress-up. El Mr. Dress-up siempre tenía una petaquilla llena de costumes. He would pretend not to be able to open his big, old trunk so he used to rattle el candão gritando ‘tickle-lock, tickle-lock.’ Pero como nosotros no hablábamos en inglés bien, no sabíamos what he mean by ‘tickle-lock,’ so le llamábamos ‘chico-lock.’ Así es cómo we got that expression para hacer lock una pretend door cuando jugábamos a tag.”
Mana Trinidad listened to Grama Cuca and then she continued hablando de las commercials viejas en el TV. She was remembering ala Elsie the cow en la caja de Borden’s Milk ya su esposo, el Elmer the Bull en la botella de Elmer’s Glue. Then both Mana Trinidad y Grama Cuca laughed, remembering que la Elsie yel Elmer tenían a un baby torito llamado Beauregard.
When the two ladies pararon de reirse, they looked at the kids jugando en el patio. They were tossing una pelota over the roof de la casa hacia otro grupo de muchitos and calling out “Landy Over!” to them.
Otra vez, Mana Trinidad asked Grama Cuca: “¿Por qué gritan ‘Landy Over’?”
Grama Cuca replied, “Es porque it is an old game llamado Andy Over pero aquí we used to call it Landy Over. It is played over una casa so that you can throw a ball over it y luego you run around it. Entonces gritabas: ‘Annie-Annie Over’ o ‘Andy Over’ and threw you la pelota over the house to the kids en el otro lão. If they caught the ball, they would sneak around la casa y tirarte con la pelota or catch you and tag you. You had to keep an eye open para verlos and beat them to the other side de la casa. If you made it, entonces that became tu lão but if you were tagged entonces you were on their side.
Las dos mujeres laughed out loud, enjoying su tióliga …