Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Chapter Ten: Alice

Dechen was learning English at school and she spoke it well enough to ask questions about Canada and understand the answers, as long as we spoke slowly (or haltingly) and supplemented with lots of pantomime. I’d already broken this kid’s heart once by giving Pup to Sushma’s family, so I was careful now to include her in our future plans so she wouldn’t be as heartbroken when Alice left her for a second time. 

“Canada has lakes and forests and mountains like Nepal. It is much colder in winter than Kathmandu. Like an ice cream freezer. Some years there is snow on the ground for six months. Alice will have to wear a warm coat and boots in winter."

Dechen loved this. What kind of coat? What color of boots? Wouldn’t her tail and nose be cold? She figured the boots should be red and the coat white and the coat should cover her from nose to tail.