Your Rubbish World, My Rubbish World

YOU GO TO THE MOVIES

Three times Uncle Fernando's neighbours
have called the police to report him.

When they go to the movies,
he goes through their garbage.

How is this a crime? he argues.
The stuff is right here, out on the street.

I don't steal it. I just look. It's my job. The police
eye him warily. (Fernando is a big man

with large eyes and cancer scars, and a certified
garbage expert), let him go with another warning.

My fellow creatures have no idea the service
I'm providing, he assures me, as I note

down the contents as he calls them.
You learn much about the world from

its garbage. I nod, plug my nose. I know
he is highly respected in his field, but

this is not the way I imagined my vacation.
Pronto! he cries. Soon they'll be back from the movies.

With all kinds of strange talk and ideas in their heads.


Priscila Uppal