Slow to Speak, Quick to Listen, Quicker to Translate.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 11:15

Walking over the pedestrian bridge, I notice one of my students, Abby,
fervently trying to get the hungry and hurried to pay attention.
I sense something in her intense dedication is out of the ordinary.

I stop, listen, and speak. In that order.

Matt, do you know Lu Xin Liu?

Wǒ bú rèn shí tā. (I don’t know her)
Wèi shén me. (Why?)

She’s in the…how to say…where sick people are…

Hospital?

Yes. Duì ya. She’s there in the hospital.
She fell off the…how to say…
ummm…damn…I forget the word.

(Pointing in the air to a dorm)

Balcony?

Duī ya,…balcony, from the fourth floor.
She fell from the balcony!

How!?
Did she fall?
Was she pushed?
Was she drinking too much!!?
When?

No, no, no!
She was washing her clothes two days ago.

Huh?
She was washing clothes!?

Duì ya!
She was putting clothes to dry
on a umm…how to say….
oh shit…oh, clothesline.
She was hanging clothes on the line.
She was too short.
So, she was on top of a chair to be tall.
She lost her feet and fell.

Feet?
She lost her feet?!
Abby, try again.
Slow down.
She lost her feet and fell?

No, not feet…um…
foot…
…footing.
She lost her footing.

She lost her balance…
duì bu qǐ, sorry…footing and fell?
Where did she…duì bu qǐ…
Did she fall to the floor or ground?

What is ‘ger-ownd’?

Earth.
Did she fall all the way down
to the ground?

Yes, ground.

How high again?

Floor Four. Lu Xin Liu fell
from the balcony to the earth
doing her laundry
and broke her back.

Dear God…

12:15 pm, Tuesday, March 11, 2014