What transpired on the week-end

I spent the last few days in the semblance of a ghost town. The only real conversation I had with members of the community was with a man who claimed his name was Karl, and that he was a Marxist. I declined his invitation to dinner; he laughed like a maniac and left.
This Marxist, I have observed, has attached himself to a girl who is very fond and proud of her pink clothes collection; perhaps his sacrifice, for it is one to rid the population of this girl, is his first contribution towards the common good. Before it, the pink-wearer, aptly named Madeleine, had come and presented herself, and a friend of the same kind, to me. She had sat down and crossed her anorexic legs appropriately, and had spoken of little things. She is Australian, she says. And in a way she is, but I prefer to see her as a blight on all of us, not just on Australia. But this gentle Karl has wooed her with his maniac laugh, and his constant flow of insults, and now she does not come to my door anymore.

As I said in the previous post, most of my friends went home for the week-end. At this hour, none of my suitemates are back. But the building is filling up. Two friends, from all I know in Davis, stayed back:
Thomas, of which I have extensively talked about. He was my host for the first few weeks of my stay in the US. He is going to Australia for a year soon; off to Wollongong on exchange.
Hayley, a girl which I have briefly mentioned before; she is a potential snowboarding partner. A charming girl working hard to get into vet school.

I spent Thursday, the actual Thanksgiving day with Thomas. He took me to his grandmother's place, where we had a family dinner. And what a family! It is a credit to Thomas that he has come out alright. His mother came out briefly, to demand that we turn off the lights. When she saw me, she came and gave me a hug; a strange kind too; she snuggled up against my chest, and held herself tightly for a few seconds. I did not know what to do. Thomas was ashamed but I did not want to give him reason to be, so I was very civil to his mother, without returning that same longing contact. She did not have dinner with us; instead she stayed in her room, in the dark, and watched TV, while Thomas, his grandmother and I ate in the living room. Thomas' grandmother is the picture of the benevolent loving woman. She can't shake hands; it makes her emotional; she kisses people. She walks slowly around the house, preparing food, petting the cats, arranging the table, and making sure that Thomas has all he needs. She speaks slowly, and then only to say pleasant things; when her daughter comes out and turns off the light, she calmly lets her, and turns them back on after she's left.
Thomas said: "I have a simple family", and he does, but of what contrasts! His grandmother practically raised him; he tells me that he goes home to see her. He calls his mother 'Jill', and his grandmother 'Grandma'. His sister is off somewhere in the army. His father his elsewhere again. I don't really remember where. But Thomas has come out the stronger for all this. He stands upright, remains largely unphased through most situations, and knows when to offer a helping hand.
Dinner itself was largely uneventful; I ate the American way. I stuffed my plate with every dish but pie; mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, fruit salad, olives, bread, and more than I can recall. Apparently, had I been a good American, I would have had a few servings; one was more than enough. I couldn't move for a few hours afterwards.

It was when Thomas dropped me off that I met Karl the Marxist. The rest of the days were spent largely by myself, and sometimes in the company of Hayley. A very pleasant company for sure. My plans of going snowboarding never came through; and for the better, since I went to a traditional thanksgiving dinner instead.

Now since I have started this post, and through the many interruptions that have come my way, three of my suitemates have come back. There is noise in this place. And it finally dawned on me that I really should be doing some homework. Ah well, I am sure that I'll find time to do it all.


Something else: something a bit random: browsing through the firefow crew's picks, I have found http://www.bartleby.com/ Entire books are available for free; and good ones too, mainly classics.
I have been reading Pride and Prejudice; it is very enjoyable. Jane Austen makes usual events very interesting; she understands the motives and drives behind all our little actions, and she exposes them shamelessly. It is like watching a play, and knowing the why of everything.