pinions of buddy don: war grief gits closer

yesterdy as i wuz a'wurkin at the tipicull frantick pace, trine to make shore our bankers tools wuz a'wurkin sos they kin generate revenoo n such when my fone rung. i git calls the livelong day on a counta how i run whut they calls the frunt line group, witch thems the folks that cums to fix yer cumputer when it dont wurk rite.

generly folks calls to cumplane bout sumthin or to ast fer speshul treetment.

but this call wuz differnt. fer one thang, i couldnt tell frum the number who twuz. that ment twuz a call frum outside the firm, witch i dont git personull calls much -- miz bd emails me ifn she needs to git my tenchun -- so i figgerd twuz lackly a recrooter. but i lack to take the calls sos i dont have the voicemail lamp a'shinin.

'bud duncan,' i sed, witch thats how i anser my fone at wurk.

'hola bud duncan,' the womans voice sed. it tuck me a mint fer me to real eyes who twuz.

'momento, por favor,' i sed, witch i wuz playin with the caller by then on a counta she knew i knew who she wuz, but i played on, 'creo qué reconozco esta voz, pero ¿quién es? ¡no mé diga! ah, yes, mé recuerdo. es la voz de carmen garcía moreno, ¿no?'

'si, señor.'

ifn ye git that spanish lango, ye know twuz sumbidy name of carmen garcía moreno, witch i knew her purty good back whenever i wuz a'livin up in washington heights.

i joshed her a bit fer not keepin in touch, witch her number had changed n i couldnt call her. then i ast her whut wuz up.

'recuerdes esta niñita qué vivía al lado de nosostros?'

i ast her witch girl livin nex door did she mean on a counta how that nayborhood wuz crawlin with yungns.

'la bonita. yo se qué sabes quién es ella. se llama mercedes como el automovíl.'

i add mitted how i did member witch purty yung gurl she ment. mercedes wuz one of them beeyooties that jes shines, kindly lack natalie wood, a beeyooty that ye know could grow up to be a model ifn she wonted to.

'bueno,' carmen continued, 'yo la encontré el otro día. estaba llorando como una locíta. le dije, 'dígame, muchacha, ¿qué pasó?' pero no podría hablar por llorando tanto.'

whut i memberd most wuz how carmen lacks to drag out a tale n not cum to the point. she could tell i wuz a lil impashunt fer her to tell me whut the yung gurl wuz crine so hard about that she couldnt speak.

'bueno, señor, te voy a decir.'

twuz a long runnin joke twixt us how she wood call me 'señor', witch i wood tell her, '¡no quiero qué me estas ustedando, por favor!', witch that wuz tuther half of the joke, how i dint wont her usin the polite form of address with me.

she laffed at that n gut on with her story.

'bueno, cuando ella podría hablar, me contó una historia tan trágica. despues qué usted se movió, ella se casó con un muchacho, el qué vivía en la calle 181.'

'sí, me recuerdo.' i couldnt help but wonder what tragic story she had to tell about mercedes gittin hitched to that yung feller frum 181st street. whenever i had known em, they wuznt outta junyer hi skool yet. twuz hard to magin em hitchin up n startin a fambly (ifn twernt the reeverse), witch thats whut she went on to tell bout.

'bueno. como dictado la naturalese, ella estaba cón la bariga y él no tenía trabajo. entonces, el se ensambló en el ejército porque encontró nada mas por ganar su dinerito.'

'sí, entiendo.' witch taint no news how hard tiz fer yung folks to git jobs n pay fer havin a fambly, speshly ifn they aint hardly gut no english. joinin the army kin be thonly way fer em to pay thar bills, witch thats why this yung feller dun it.

ye kin probly guess the res. he wuznt over in iraq moren three munths till mercedes gut the wurst news of her yung life.

'ella estaba llorando, bud, llorando y gritando, 'my husbin, my husbin, ¿yo qué voy hacer? ¿por qué me perdió me esposo? ¿por cual razón? digame, señora, ¿por cual razon?' ella estaba inconsolable.'

'y tú qué le has dicho?'

'¡hay, chico, please! si él presidente no sabe qué decir, ¿como yo voy a saber?'

i wonted to ast her why did she half to call me to give me such news, but she wuz crine her ownself by then. i dint know why the yung feller had to die. twuz a tradishun twixt me n carmen how she wood ast me to splain 'tú país' [yer cuntry] to her. ifn ye know yer spanish, ye know that las statement she made wuz a doozy: if the president dont know whut to say, how wood she?

tiz one of them queschuns that gits biggern bigger evertime the anser gits disprooved, speshly now that mos everbidy manely wunders bout a cuple new questchuns: how do we git out of this mess? how minny more yungns has to die fer befor we do?