Three Hour Drive

Arthur was an average fourth grade student. All of this changed after Arthur’s mom instructed him to pack everything he owned because they’d be relocating to Southern Florida. Arthur wasn’t ready for the incredibly different culture he would encounter, most notably the number of spanish speakers.

Before arriving in his new home, Arthur’s mom told him just one line of foreshadowing, “You must learn to speak, once again,” she had said cryptically.

Arthur waited for the painstakingly long three hour car ride to end, and thoughts of the remark made by his mom entered his mind as he deciphered its meaning, with the cause of the remark being rather ambiguous.

He arrived and soon after he noticed an overwhelming amount of  South American people on the road outside. Some were grouped up practicing soccer, and a couple others were walking around the neighborhood.  One other person was practicing free throws on his basketball hoop. Arthur sprinted outdoors to ask some of the kids outside if he could play with them. One of them, Juan, stepped up to talk.

Arthur glanced at Juan’s face enough to notice his obvious confusion after Arthur asked to join the soccer game. Arthur quickly realized Juan must’ve not understood him. Arthur restated  his question, but it didn’t clarify the situation for Juan.

“Yo no hablo ingles,” Juan said, clearly confused, only increasing how perplexed the pair of us were.

Arthur rapidly realized Juan probably didn’t understand English. Most of Arthur’s new neighbors seemingly didn’t speak English. Additionally,  all of the sales at walmart were twice as good as up North.

Of more importance, Juan spoke again.

“Cómo te llamas?”

Arthur’s face filled with extreme happiness. He comprehended something at last!

“I understood!” Arthur stated with ecstatic happiness. “I also like llamas!”

Arthur persisted in attempting to speak to Juan. The new friends kicked the ball between each other for a few minutes before Arthur’s Mom instructed him to come back to the house to organize his belongings so he’d be prepared for school, which he would start the day after. Arthur said bye to Juan and he walked home.

Arthur awoke the next morning with feelings of confidence spreading through him. As he entered his bus, someone offered Arthur to sit next to her. They spoke of many topics until Arthur asked if everybody spoke Spanish but them two.

Astoundingly, her response was no. “Nope, only around three kids speak Spanish. I only get high-key bullied for not speaking Spanish like seven days a week,” she said.

Arthur gave a short laugh, as he instinctively knew she was telling a fib, joking with him. Arthur could tell that becoming accustomed to this new culture would be much harder than he thought originally.