Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Definition of Distress
I believe y'all remember Tal, the cool dude who captured The JohnnyB in a heartbeat. We now call him Taltul, as he is so incredibly adorable. Oh yes, he's still cool. Very. He is now 15 months old, chasing his older brother (Nitz) all around the house and acting like a real dude.
Until... last week Nitz got his revenge, once and for all.
First, bear with me while I present a short cross-culture lesson.
Here we go: in Israel we do not clean the floor with those fancy spongy mops that pop up here in Target every day. Y'see, we simply do not believe in smearing the dirt all around... Instead, we pour water with detergent from a bucket (most floors in Israel are tile) and then collect them with a big squeegee (called magav in Hebrew). Once this is done, we dry the floor with a clean floor cloth. When I just arrived here and gave this TLC to our kitchen floor (it also works on vinyl), The JohnnyB was stunned to see how clean and bright it actually was underneath all the layers of, well, mopping. Sadly, you can't get a magav in the US, so it's a good thing I listened to the movers and brought one with me when I shipped my stuff here.
End of lesson.
Last week Nitz decided to act as if he is cleaning the floor, grabbed one Magav and started dancing around with it very happily.
Being the sweetheart that he is, he thought he should share the joy with his younger bro, Taltul, grabbed a second Magav and gave it to him - - -
- - - and perhaps for the first time in his life, Taltul the mini-Lionheart got scared out of his mind.
My sister who was lucky to witness this, reports that he just stood there forever, looking at the thing all the way up and back down, not daring to move his feet even an eighth of an inch, and wearing the most distressful expression on his face.
He had no clue what to do with this baton - and yet felt obliged to hold on to it as if that is the last straw; as if once he lets go, global warming will instantly commence and all species would become extinct in a second. (except for ants and idiots, that is. Those will thrive forever). Alas, so much responsibility on the shoulders of such a little guy.
And so he stood like that totally freaked out and scared shitless for a minute or two, and soon came to the inevitable brilliant conclusion he'll have to spend his whole life holding on to that strange thing that was bestowed upon his custody for guardianship until someone else steps up to take it from him - and what are the odds of that happening? (hmm... that's exactly how I feel sometimes since I became the president of our art organization. I fully and absolutely relate to his agony!!!).
Eventually, realizing he is doomed to a fate more tragic than Sisyphus' and heavier than Atlas', Taltul burst into (very manly) tears.
Of course, being related to me, my sister (the loving grandma) and my niece (the loving mom) did not rush to help him. No way. My sister hollered for my niece to come out of the shower and grab a camera, and thus it was documented. Knowing them, I am sure they were also laughing their heads off (hence the blurry photos).
Apparently, the one who came to his rescue was Nitz, who took the magav and set his little brother free. Only then could he breathe again. And I am told that later, when Nitz tried to deposit the magav in his hands, Taltul shook his head and his body in the most expressive 'NO WAY' ever recorded in the history of mankind.
After days of begging, my niece agreed to share the photos, and I just had to create this slide show to commemorate it.
Taltul is too young to be embarrassed by this, but one day, when he grows up...
Labels: Family, Movies, People, Profoundness
# posted by Nava @ 7:14 PM 
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