Mother Tongue
March 31st, 2021
Starring: Madre (female, 55-65), Niño (late 20’s)
The home kitchen. Madre is cooking. She takes a hot pan of food off the stovetop and puts it on the counter. Niño (visiting for the week) enters, spying the food in the pan. They go to grab a piece:
MADRE
Careful, it’s—
Too late. Niño shoves it in their mouth, then realizes it’s scalding, immediately flipping out:
NIÑO
AHH!
Fuck!
MADRE
Hot—
NIÑO
Shit!
Niño spits out the food in the sink, panting.
MADRE
Cold water cold water—
NIÑO
What does that do?
MADRE
It stops the burn.
NIÑO
How?
MADRE
It cools it.
NIÑO
But the damage is done. Like the skin’s already—
MADRE
Do what you want. But that helps me...
Niño catches their breath, trying to calm down:
NIÑO
God that was stupid
That was really dumb
Ow
…
…
How do you say it in Spanish?
MADRE
Say...
NIÑO
Burn. To burn.
MADRE
Quemarse.
NIÑO
Quemarse.
…
Que...quemé?
MADRE
Me quemé. Reflexive verb.
NIÑO
Me quemé uh
Me quemé el
MADRE
La boca.
NIÑO
No—
MADRE
Mouth.
NIÑO
I know it's mouth.
I’m trying to say tongue, what’s tongue?
MADRE
Lengua. La lengua.
NIÑO
Me quemé mi lengua.
MADRE
La lengua.
NIÑO
What?
MADRE
The verb already says it’s your tongue. Me quemé la lengua.
NIÑO
Me quemé la lengua.
MADRE
Perfecto.
NIÑO
Yeah. Perfecto.
Muchas gracias.
…
MADRE
Where did that come from?
NIÑO
I don’t know.
I think I’m realizing it’s a lost cause. Officially.
MADRE
To learn? There’s still time.
NIÑO
No there’s not.
MADRE
You’re still a baby—
NIÑO
Twenty years ago I was a baby. That was the window. It was open, and now it’s closed.
MADRE
That’s up to you.
NIÑO
But it wasn’t up to me. I was a kid, you could’ve...you should’ve just taught me!
MADRE
Me? I’m not fluent.
NIÑO
Close enough to speak to me in it. Start me early.
MADRE
You weren’t interested.
NIÑO
I had to show interest? That’s what was holding you back?
MADRE
You wanted to learn what you wanted. In fifth grade, you begged me to let you take Latin! Begged me! Got on your knees!
NIÑO
And you should’ve said no.
MADRE
Really? You would’ve been fine with me forcing Spanish down your throat?
NIÑO
No kid wants to be forced to do anything! But you had the skills and the authority to force me anyway, knowing that even if I kicked and screamed at 10, I’d be thanking you when I’m 28 and fluent. And then I could pass it on to my kids, and they could pass it to their kids, and we’d all be one happy bilingual family for generations.
But it’s not going to happen. And I’m not the one who could’ve made it happen.
…
MADRE
I’m sorry for not anticipating your needs.
NIÑO
I don’t want you saying sorry—
MADRE
Then what was all that for? To shame me?
Mission accomplished.
Silence. Niño lingers, guilt building:
NIÑO
Mom
Now I um...I really wasn’t trying to—
MADRE
Do you want to learn?
NIÑO
Hm?
MADRE
Do you want to speak Spanish or not?
NIÑO
I
I don’t know
MADRE
Great. Then we're starting tonight.
NIÑO
But I might have to work—
MADRE
Too bad.
You want no choice? This is me not giving you one.
Comenzamos a las ocho.
Madre walks out of the kitchen. Niño stands there, left to deal.
They get a glass from the cupboard and fill a glass with cold water. Their mouth feels better.