Mama how can a plant look like an animal Long ago people cut bushes into shapes Some were round others resembled chairs still others looked like animals This picture was taken in Paris Park which had a little pond and a fountain that was lit with colored lights at night It was like a lit water balloon on the ground How do you know these things Because I remember darling I’m that little girl No Mama you’re kidding I glanced back and forth from my mother to the photo of the little girl It was sweet to see my mother as a kid sitting on a camel’s hump thinking about a water balloon And it was strange seeing her grown up sitting in front of me on the floor explaining all this We rode trolleys It was so much fun Everything was fresh and open Sometimes there were even two cars We’d pay for the ride and the conductor would pull a cord and ring a bell There was a kind of clock way up high and the numbers went up depending on how many people got on the trolley I tried to imagine what that was like I knew that a trolley was some kind of city train Once I had seen one in a TV movie and I was dying to know more Did the conductor have to let go of the steering wheel to pull the cord Wasn’t it dangerous My mother smiled Where did you get that idea The trolley was the least dangerous thing in the whole world The conductor had nothing to do with the steering wheel He only made sure people paid The
motorman was the one who steered We were looking at the photos and talking when all of a sudden I saw the nicest picture you can imagine It wasn’t square or rectangular like the pictures you normally see It was round and a bit long oval my mother later explained like an egg And it wasn’t black-and-white or in color It was brown and light beige Mama told me that old pictures were usually that color and it was called sepia And the photo wasn’t loose like the pictures you pick up from the photo store in a small album or inside an envelope Not like that That oval and sepia picture was mounted on a stiff piece of gray paper that had paper flowers on it The decorations were kind of swollen up It was nice to run your finger over the raised parts And best of all right in the middle was a pretty little girl her hair in curls wearing a light-colored dress covered with ribbons and lace and beads She was holding a doll with a hat in one hand and some kind of bicycle wheel not attached to a bike and without spokes in the other It was a sort of metal circle Mama can I have that picture of the doll That’s not a doll sweetie It’s a picture of Abuela Beatriz I don’t know that grandmother I only know Abuela Dina and Abuela Esther Are there others Mama
Yes This was my grandmother Abuela Beatriz Your great grandmother your bisabuela My bisabuela Beatriz I kept staring at the picture realizing that I couldn’t call that pretty doll-faced little girl Bisabuela Beatriz She didn’t have a great-grandmother face You only had to look at her to want to play with her Where’s the girl’s doll Mama And what happened to the hula hoop Did someone keep it No this picture is from long ago The doll must have been lost And it wasn’t a hula hoop It was a bicycle wheel No it was an old toy you rolled along the ground trying to keep it balanced so it wouldn’t fall over It was called a hoop It’s from way before my time even from when Abuela Beatriz your great grandmother was a kid my mother said somewhat wistfully My great-grandmother Bisabuela Beatriz That was when I began thinking of her as my Bisa Bea And I wanted her picture Hey Mama can I keep the picture It’s so pretty She’s like a doll Can I keep it What do you want it for I don’t want to lose it You never even met your great-grandmother But that’s why So I can take her with me everywhere until I get to know her Take her to school to the square to all my hiding places Can I have it Please My mother’s voice got stiff No it’s the only picture I have of
