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By SARAH SMILEY
'No Comprende,' But We Connected Anyway
Jesus (pronounced “hey-soos,” just so there’s no question) is the leader of a mariachi band Dustin and I found at a local Mexican restaurant. We promptly hired him for the annual Cinco de Mayo squadron party we were preparing to host in our backyard roughly a year ago.But Jesus doesn’t speak much English, and at the time, the only Spanish words I knew were all profanities. So Dustin and I weren’t entirely confident that Jesus would show up as planned.
Jesus and I had many conversations on the phone leading up to the party. Yet these could hardly be called “conversations” because they consisted of me speaking English in an exaggeratingly slow fashion while practically shouting Spanish at him, as if that would somehow help bridge the language barrier. It went something like this:
Me: So you will come to our house and play for the party?
Jesus: No comprende.
Me: Cinco de Mayo?
Jesus (excited): Si! Cinco de Mayo!
Me: You play music at my house?
Jesus (concerned): No comprende.
Me: CINCO DE MAYO?
Jesus (happily again): Si, Cinco de Mayo!
The only thing I could be certain about was that Jesus and I both had calendars.
Eventually, I could determine that Jesus wanted me to meet him at the restaurant. That seemed to make sense, since we could do charades instead of shouting at each other over the phone.
For our next trip to the restaurant, I brought deposit money and a map with directions to our house. While Jesus played the “chicken dance” for my boys (then ages six, four and newborn), I chewed on my nail and wondered if I should have hired a translator. Lindell sucked on his pacifier and peered up at the band from his baby carrier propped up on a highchair. Ford and Owen danced around flapping their arms like chickens and giving Jesus high-fives.
Then I gave Jesus the money and the map. There’s nothing like handing a wad of cash to a man who may or may not have understood a single word you said and having only a glimmer of hope that he will show up to perform.
Yet for reasons I can’t explain, my faith in Jesus was strong. Somehow, I knew he would be there. Sure enough, at 10:00 on Cinco de Mayo, just when our guests were beginning to think the mariachi band was a prank, Jesus and three other Mexican men dressed in full mariachi attire (or, “el charro”) came up the sidewalk playing “Tequila.”
Before Jesus left that night, he told me that he loved my family. “God blessed you much,” he said. “You have nice heart.”
It turned out that our language barrier had presented a unique opportunity for us to get to know each other. Without the distraction of language and pretenses, we were able to see the other’s genuine self.
Dustin and I decided to hire Jesus’ band again for our 2008 Cinco de Mayo party. For weeks, I dialed Jesus’ phone number and got not response. We worried that he had been deported or something. Our friends were disappointed.
Dustin sent a rather tacky e-mail message to his squadron mates, forgetting that not everyone had attended our party last year or knew that Jesus is actually pronounced hey-soos. “Although we were worried that Jesus had left the country, confirmation from the hostess at Casa Ole and a late-night sighting in the produce department of Wal-Mart gives us confidence that Jesus is still in
One of Dustin’s senior officers replied back and basically warned Dustin that his philosophy on religion in
Dustin, the boys and I met Jesus at his restaurant, and he greeted us like long-lost relatives. “Smileys,” he beamed. “Smileys with the kind heart!” He played the chicken dance for the kids, who at this point were beginning to think that lots of men dress in el charro. Jesus said he would be there for our party.
I had no doubt that he would… until Cinco de Mayo.
Tune in next week to read about the mariachi band at Sarah’s house on… ocho de Mayo?
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Sarah Smiley is the wife of a Navy pilot and daughter of a retired Navy pilot. She is the author of “Going Overboard: The Misadventures of a Military Wife” (Penguin/NAL), and her syndicated column “Shore Duty” appears weekly in military and civilian newspapers across the country. Read more about Sarah at her website, www.sarahsmiley.com.