Don't Drink the Water - Portfolio

He blinked at the bright light. Something was tugging at his arm...then he drifted off to sleep again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was back in his apartment in Pisco, Perú. 50 meters from the ocean, he could smell the salt, and hear the waves crashing on the rocks. The smell was so strong he could almost taste the fish, the smell coming from the fish plant the village thrived on.

It was Sunday, and Elder Grossman was kicking himself for forgetting to buy water the previous day - he was out and it was going to be another hot summer day in January. He had to have a drink, so he went to the bathroom attached to their upstairs studio apartment; which was actually the roof of a house, converted into a room, that happened to have a bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elder Grossman opened his eyes again, the light making him blink. His Mission President, Presidente Fierro (IRON, and the name suited him perfectly) was standing over Grossman, a little too close to the hospital bed, waiting for his sick missionary to wake up. As soon as Presidente Fierro realized the missionary was awake, he loosed his barrage of questions.

"What did you eat? Ceviche? Pork?" Did you eat from a street vendor? What has your pensionista been feeding you??"

Grossman dozed off...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he got back, Elder Pumarica could see his companion's lips were wet, "Did you drink water from the sink?" he asked suspiciously.

"No," I replied a little too quickly; wiping my lips dry on my white button up shirt.

The next day I was bedridden with pain and cold-sweats. We tried everything from cold showers to pedialyte. At one point Pumarica, who had had appendicitis before, thought I was going to die if I didn't get to the hospital.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I woke up, I heard that the Mission President AND his wife both chewed out the lady that fed us everyday. When I finally came to, the same barrage of questions were flung at me, to which I did NOT confess to drinking the water, because I didn't connect my sickness (which was just an intestinal infection, NOT appendicitis, thankfully and the water at the time...or maybe I had blocked it out because I was so intimidated by this man. I ended up not being able to do missionary things for about eight days...I stayed in the hospital just over night, after traveling from about 4 hours away.

Comments

  1. NkresgeMay 1, 2018 at 1:33 PM

    Oh wow. That's scary! I found your narrative changes interesting and a cool twist on the story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 2, 2018 at 2:44 PM

    This is very intriguing! Thank you for sharing!

    Hannah M

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Big - Language - Bang - Portfolio

An explosion of vocabulary is an accurate and appropriate image descriptor of how language develops in toddlers. So much of the language which is produced by young toddlers is misused or generalized, but a large amount of language and learning is happening in a short amount of time, these mistakes are encouraged. Children go from having about 50 words in their repertoire, to having over 200 words that they can use with those who can understand them. These toddlers switch from giving their parents one word commands like, "milk!' or "no!" to saying things like, "I'wa' milk please!" or "No, I do' wa' that!" In this process, my daughter made some amusing developments. I don't mean the, "I want a tweet!" Although adorable, those types of mispronunciations are a product of how sounds are heard and perceived by the child. When Violet was young, maybe around one and a half, she was learning to say more and more words. S...
Read more

Papa a la Huancaína

* I like these parts, I have been using this repeating phrase things for the past couple days in multiple writings, it's pretty fun! Puke, vomit, upchuck, bile, however you want to say it, that is what it tastes like. A cold potato slice with lukewarm, yellow sauce with chunks in it, on top. Sometimes served with a slice of boiled egg or two. Scandalous, atrocious, shameful, absolutely rude, however you want to say it, that is what it is to refuse someone who offers you food in Peru. I once refused dinner at an event, after I had already eaten a huge dinner before arriving, the lady was so offended that I later forced myself into eating a full plate of food, which, if you aren't familiar with Peruvian portions, is a cup of rice, a cup of beans, and a large portion of chicken, delicious and filling - to say the least. Dilemma, pickle, bind, up a creek without a paddle, however you want to say it, that is what the situation was on a daily basis as a missionary in Perú. You w...
Read more

Max's Story

“Hey!” I yelled, feigning innocence, “I’m hurt!” “I know better than to take advice from you!” she said. My sister was probably thinking about the time I told her to wash her favorite shirt, that she had carelessly stained, in hot water, then immediately dry it on high heat. After that, she was careful to run things by Mom before doing anything else, and that was 2 years ago. I just rolled my eyes and said, “Alright little sis, suit yourself.” She took her ruined book back, and stalked out of my room; probably to go ask mom if using gum to fix the binding of her most read book would actually work. I closed my door and turned on Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down. The Better Life album was one of my favorites, it put me in the zone when I wanted to play a video game, like Burnout 3 ; or when I wanted to block out any distractions to focus on the fantasy novel I was reading that week. This time, it was to play this new game my friend told me about, Minecraft . I had heard of ...
Read more