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Lost and Found in Translation

Episode submitted by Hikaru on Fri Jul 25 03:40:42 2008
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Author's note: It's been a long time since I had any Spanish, and online dictionaries helped, but there were still problems. Maybe some of the sentences I had problems with were idioms?
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We finally arrived at the shopping mall. In fact I felt rather strange, but I thought that it felt okay... How can I say it? Like this feminine body of mine were only an exciting experiment. Suddenly, something odd happened. Karyn and I came into a shop. Karyn began to talk to me:

"Come on, Joan, see that..."

I couldn't hear it. I felt an inner shake.

"What? I don't understand."

Karyn looked at me strangely.

"What? What's happening? Why are you speaking in Spanish?"

I tried to make an effort to understand. I thought in Spanish, talked in Spanish. Just a moment ago I was talking and thinking in English. What was happening to me?

"Say, Joan..."

"What? I don't understand you! I don't understand anything you're saying to me! Holy God!"

"Right! You're joking, surely..."

I looked around myself, thinking. I practically didn't understand the language that was around me, but I knew that a moment ago it was my language. I only knew how to think and speak in Spanish. Someone had used the wishing stone, my stone. I took Karyn's arm and told her:

"Karyn, I have to return home, do you understand? R-E-T-U-R-N! It's the stone, you know?" I made a gesture with my closed fist. "Someone is playing with me."

Karyn couldn't understand.

"Wait a minute... How is that possible? Oh, well, this is... I don´t speak Spanish! Shit! I only can say things like 'Buenoss diass senorita' or... Wait! I'm coming with you, Joan!"

I smiled unconsciously, despite being worried, as we left the store. It felt as strange to me as an extraterrestrial in a disco. Yesterday I was a boy and I could understand everything. Today I'm a girl dressed in a dress and boots and I don't understand anything, or almost anything, of the words I can hear around me.

I arrived home, walking a bit, running a bit, with Karyn stepping in the heels of my boots for me [?]. They could be sexy, but they were uncomfortable for running. We went in.

"Hello! Is anyone home?"

Then Peppie, my worst friend, appeared. With friends like him, of course, I don't need enemies. He looked me up and down arrogantly and told me:

"Hi, Jon. Or can I call you Joan? What pretty makeup you have... what does it feel like being a girl? Or a cultural minority?"

"Do you know what you did?"

"Oh, yeah... someone at school told me about the stone, before I let myself into your house. Your mother had gone, she left me waiting for you, how kind... I took the stone, I wanted to know what you were doing and where you were. I already see you're not wasting time without wanting something [?]. And good, I decided to amuse myself at your expense. Does it bother you? Ah, what a beautiful language, Spanish. I don't need classes any more. "

I stared at him and I approached him, panting.

"You've had a good joke, son of a prostitute! Give me my stone!"

I hadn't always had it with me. [?] This was bad [?]. Was it gone? Could I return to understanding my mother tongue?

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