Criss Crossing the language barrier

Sometime last month my husband went out and bought a refrigerator and a television.  Supposedly he got a great deal on both and to get that deal he had to buy them both.  We had been looking for a television for the Steelers room and our refrigerator, as most of our appliances, was sixteen years old and had some problems.  I was fine with it.  We had looked at refrigerators over the last two months so we knew we wanted a side by side in stainless steel with the water and ice dispenser on the outside.

We scheduled the delivery and the men arrived late in the afternoon.  They were all Spanish speaking with the man in charge the only one who spoke English.  He entered the house, I showed him the old refrigerator, and we discussed which way to exit and enter either via the garage or through the house.  He decided through the house and out the front door was the way to go.  To do this he would have to take the old refrigerator out the kitchen door into the study, then into the living room, and finally out the front door.  Satisfied with his plan he called to his assistants, an older man and a young kid, to come inside and help.

The young kid entered first, smiled at me, muttered a greeting and went into the kitchen.  I was standing in the entry way of my dining room which afforded me a view of the living area, the study and the doorway into the kitchen.  The older man entered next and he went right to Elliot's cage and said something to me in Spanish which I didn't understand, not knowing Spanish.  I took a stab that he too had a Sheltie, and I smiled back and muttered something in English which he didn't understand, not knowing English.  In the end we just grinned like fools and stood there nodding our heads while Elliot growled at the work going on in the kitchen.

The older man finally headed toward the kitchen where the other two had the refrigerator out and almost to the doorway.  The older man went to assist, but suddenly he stopped and made the sign of the cross, not once, but twice before going through the doorway.  I thought that odd having grown up attending Catholic services with my neighbors.  Never had I seen them make the sign of the cross before entering a doorway.  I knew that in the Jewish faith they touched a mezuzah in the doorway and then kissed the fingers that touched the mezuzah, but never had I seen the sign of the cross.  I was quite perplexed.

I watched the three of them work to get the old refrigerator out through the doorway discussing things in Spanish that made me want to know the language and wondering if they were talking about me.  Then I got back to thinking why the older gentleman had made the sign of the cross.  I stood and began to look around my house to see if something maybe had spooked him.  Finally my eyes went back to the men in the doorway and there I saw it.  To the right of the entry way into my kitchen from the study I have hung some of the girls' art projects from grades 1 to 3.  Hanging on the wall was one of Darcy's masks from her Spanish class in which they celebrated the Day of the Dead.

Ah ha! Of course, I did not remember this was where the mask was from until the girls came home, and I told them the story.  Madison then explained about the Mexican custom of the Day of the Dead and the symbol of the skull sometimes used in the form of masks to represent the lost loved ones.  Now I wonder if he wonders who was the loved one I had lost, and I wonder too whether or not they discussed this in Spanish while moving the refrigerators to and from my house. Of course I shall never know, but he did end up showing me a picture of his Sheltie dog that he carried around in his wallet.