“On the way to the Nashville Airport” by Rudy Thomas

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On the way to the Nashville Airport,
the young woman in the passenger seat begins to talk.

I saw some pictures of Cuba last night
she begins
& I want to go there.

“You realize it is a Communist country,
don’t you?” I ask.

I did not know that it is Communist
she says.
She sits silent.

“Perhaps you should consider the Cayman Islands,” I say,
“or the Bahamas.”

Do they have American culture?

“British,” I say. “The U. S. Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico are American Territories.”

Have you ever been to Asia?

“No,” I say.

You should come. I will be
your tour guide. South Korea
is small—smaller than Kentucky.

“Have you ever
been to North Korea?”
I ask.

Once when I was 8 or 9, she answers.

“Do you have family there?”

No she says. It is sad for politics
to divide people. They are poor & hungry.
Some go out & eat grass like cattle.

“Cuba is poor, too,” I say.

Really? In the pictures, it is very
beautiful. In North Korea our school group
had to be very respectful. No pointing.

“What do you remember most?”

The children walking to school were
thin & very unhappy.
They did not smile at all.

-Rudy Thomas

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