“Dennis! Dennis Wolfe!”
I turned around to see my old friend Randy hurrying up the street after me. We shook hands and I asked, “How is life back in Texas?”
After we talked awhile I said, “You were taking Spanish lessons the last time we spoke. How is that working out for you?”
“Not too good,” he said. “It’s really confusing.”
“Why don’t you come with me today? I’m spending the morning with an old man that does upholstery work. He doesn’t speak a word of English and it will give you some good practice.”
“That’s a good idea,” Randy said. “I will only speak Spanish.”
When we got to Don Ramon’s house I explained to the old man about my friend’s trouble with speaking Spanish.
In Spanish I said, “One of his biggest problems is that he doesn’t understand how every noun has a gender. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Of course,” he said. “The table is la mesa. The floor is el piso. If the word ends in a you use la because the word is feminine. If it ends in o it is el for masculine. It is very simple.”
“Not to someone who speaks Spanish as badly as I do,” I told him. “It can be very confusing and my friend here is even worse than me.”
A big fly landed on my arm about that time. Randy pointed at it and said, “El mosca.”
In Spanish, Don Ramon said, “La mosca is feminine.”
“What did he say about the fly?” Randy asked.
“He said it is feminine.”
“Good God!” Randy said. “That old man has unbelievable eyesight.”
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