Today, as we were walking home from the village, we passed Gautham, a little boy in our homestay family. He was walking home from school with his friends, who were all dressed exactly the same way, looking like a little herd of Gauthams in their identical light blue uniforms and crooked dark blue ties.
“Gautham!” we shouted. “Gautham! Our friend! Mayra dost!”
All grammar out the window. Too excited.
I don’t really know what we expected. Did we think he’d run, arms outstretched, to embrace us? Lick our faces like a puppy? Happily introduce us to his little buddies, proudly telling everyone that these Americans lived with him?
Whatever we were expecting, we didn’t get it. He pushed one of his friends in front of him, and continued to walk, keeping his head down.
“Oh my God,” said Joe. “Did we just embarrass Gautham?”
Luckily Gautham got over his embarrassment pretty quickly – only after he coerced Joe into a game of pretty intense game of hide and seek when we got home.
“Count to ONE HUNDRED!”
“Oh no! I only know up to ten! Ek, do, tin, char, panch, che, sat, ot, nau, dos….. 18! 52! 65! Here I come!”
A good game of hide and seek fixes everything.
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