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An Age of Innocence |
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| My heart pounded in my throat as I frantically searched the little corner store. | ||
| I was on a mission. Mother needed Kotex. | ||
| My family was in Canada only three months and with two years of once-a-week | ||
| elementary school English lessons I was the official family translator and "gofer". | ||
| But Kotex was not a word they taught in elementary school English in Holland. | ||
| The dictionary said 'maandverband' (Dutch) was 'napkins' (English). Of course, | ||
| this dictionary also said a bathroom was a WC and we found that was a lie when | ||
| we were desperate to find a WC in a department store. | ||
| I searched the entire store, but couldn't find anything resembling 'napkins'. | ||
| I wandered around hoping someone had misplaced them and I would find boxes of | ||
| 'napkins' with the potato chips or maybe the bread. The only clerk working was | ||
| a good-looking young man. He was getting suspicious. And I was close to tears. | ||
| At thirteen I was so shy I blushed even thinking of talking to that young man. | ||
| I certainly didn't want to ask him about 'napkins' in my broken English. | ||
| I waited until there were no customers left in the store. With sweaty palms and | ||
| a flush creeping up my neck I approached the clerk. | ||
| "I need napkins," I said, feeling my face turn crimson. He looked puzzled. | ||
| "Napkins," I repeated. | ||
| He walked to one of the shelves and returned with a package of serviettes. I shook | ||
| my head. Mortified I tried to think of a way to describe 'napkins'. | ||
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| "Other napkins," I said and drew the shape with my hands. He looked even more | ||
| puzzled. | ||
| "These are the only napkins we have," he said impatiently. | ||
| New customers had entered the store and stared at us curiously. My face was | ||
| burning bright like a lighthouse. | ||
| "For bleeding," I whispered. He shrugged and went to help another customer. | ||
| I was determined to accomplish my mission and waited. The customer left and the | ||
| clerk turned back to me. | ||
| "For bleeding," I tried again, discreetly pointing towards my crotch, then drawing | ||
| in the air again. Another blank look crossed his face. No wonder I hated charades | ||
| so much. I just wasn't very good at it. | ||
| Bless the lady behind me who suddenly realized what I needed. She mentioned | ||
| something to the clerk and he disappeared. He returned with a box wrapped in | ||
| plain brown paper. I grabbed the box, paid and bolted from the store without | ||
| checking the contents. At home I was relieved to find it was indeed Kotex. | ||
| Someone had taken the trouble to wrap every Kotex box in that store with brown | ||
| paper. The summer of 1967 may still have been a time of modesty, but I think | ||
| I lost my innocence that day. | ||
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Marion de Man |
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***** |
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