Ninina in the Museum

Yikes: the (long-lost? -- since 2005, that's for sure!) English translation of "En el Museo" (see November). Verdaderamente que La Ninina esta acabando--her best (?!) translation, to date. Merry Christmas -- Feliz Navidad!!!

LA LOQUITA DEL ZIG-ZAG: NININA IN THE MUSEUM

BY NININA MAMEYEZ

“Get up! Get up, little girl!” Miss Spray Starch almost shook me out of bed. “You’re going to a museum with your mommy.” “A WHAT?” “A museum. You find art there.” “Like our funny statue of that—that bad man chasing the chubby woman?”

“Hurry up! Put on your little white dress with the red buttons and zigzag stitching.” “My uh, oh I’m going to the doctor dress?” “PUT IT ON!”

Mr. Choi took mommy and me to the Old City. There were lions in front of the
museum. Better lions than crocodiles.

We entered. A guide began to tell us about several painters: Mister Trampoline; and Mister Seesaw. They learned from a VERY FAMOUS painter: Mister Picky Eater. Uh, oh. Just like me.

“Sometimes Mister Picky Eater painted people like people,” the guide told us. “And sometimes he didn’t. Misters Trampoline and Seesaw do the same thing,” she continued.

Oh. Looking at the paintings on the walls, I decided I like people painted like people.

“What do you like, little girl?” The guide asked me. “ People.” “And colors?” “Pretty colors.” “Why?” “‘Cause all the little flowers and rainbows and my pink chicken have pretty colors.”

“Little girl, look at this painting painted by Miss Pick A Fight.” Uh, oh, I don't like fights. “Do you like it?”

“No, no people.”

“And do you like Mister Trampoline’s paintings?” “Yes, there are more people.”

“What about Mister Seesaw’s paintings? Look, here’s a castle on a hill. Do you like it?”

“Yes, it has more people. Why isn’t the lady wearing a blouse? She has a pink ribbon in her hair. I like that!”

Mommy and the guide walked around the museum. I kept looking at the pink ribbon.

Uh, oh. Many other paintings in the museum didn’t have people. Mommy finally saw a half-people lady holding a bowl of fruit. “Ninina, do you like it?”

“Oh, mommy, it has pretty colors. The lady looks like a mask, but she’s smiling. OH, NO—she’s holding a bowl of FRUIT!”

Mommy sighed. “Who’s the painter?” She asked the guide.

“His name is Mister Topsy-Turvy.”

“Oh, mommy, I like him MUCH more than our Fly!” We have a painting of A Fly on our wall. Every time I pass it, I stick out my tongue.

“You have A Fly on your wall?” Asked the guide. “He’s very much in style.”

“I like Mister Topsy-Turvy!” I said, jumping up and down. “I like the half-people lady, even if she likes FRUIT.”

“You want a copy of The Fruit-Liking Half-People Lady Who Looks Like A Mask?” Mommy asked me, with a twinkle in her eye.

“Yes! Thank you, mommy!” I gave her a kiss.

Back at home, we hung Mister Topsy-Turvy on my wall.

I decided I wouldn’t stick my tongue out at our Fly any more.

Oh, if only I could have the lady without a blouse’s pink ribbon for my half-people lady. Then I wouldn’t care that she likes fruit.

497 words



Mister Topsy-Turvy's Fruit -- Uh, oh!