Plums | B. Barnes

~Thankful~

Month 9

Thursday
November 27, 2014

"Mario, salut! (Mario, Hello!)" Bucky says arriving at the fruit stand.

"Salut Bucky, salut! (Hello Bucky, Hello!)" Mario replies. "Ce as putea sa-ti aduc? (What can I get for you?)" Mario asks.

Before Bucky could reply, Ivory abruptly babbled loudly waving her arms around, and kicking her small feet.

"Salut, puiule Ivory. (Hello, baby Ivory.)" Mario chuckled smiling at the girl.

"Ce as putea sa-ti aduc? (What can I get for you?)" Mario asks.

"Voi merge cu obișnuitul meu, Prune, vă rog. (I'll go with my usual, Plums please.)"

"Cat de mult? (How many?)"

"da-mi...patru. (Give me...four.)" Bucky replies paying the man, before receiving a bag of plums in return.

"Cu siguranță devine mare. (She sure is getting big.)" Mario smiled, waving at Ivory. Ivory smiled back, happily clapping her hands together.

"Indeed, she is a growing girl. She'll be 6 months old soon and she loves to eat..." Bucky says causing Mario to chuckle. "I tried giving her the cut up fruit like you suggested...and she can't get enough of it. Thank you so much Mario." Bucky said looking down at Ivory.

Bucky had visited the produce stand twice a week, he learned that although Mario couldn't speak good English he understood it very well. In a number of weeks Bucky found that Mario was someone he could trust.

"Faci ceva cu familia ta de Ziua Recunoștinței? (Doing anything with your Family for Thanksgiving?)"

"Um...nu avem familie. Suntem doar noi. (Um...we have no family. It's just us.)" Bucky announced causing Mario's facial expression to soften. Mario never knew that Bucky had been doing it all on his own.

"Ai unde să mănânci? (Do you have a place to eat?)" Mario asks.

"adăpost pentru oamenii străzii. (Homeless Shelter.)" Bucky says bouncing the baby who had been getting slightly fussy. While Bucky had been doing that, Mario had been digging around the stand for something.

"Shhh, Ivory Hush. It's alright." Bucky says reassuring the fussy baby.

Moments later Mario hands Bucky a flyer. "Biserica mea are o sărbătoare în această seară. (My church is having a feast this evening.)" he explains.

"Te rog, treci pe aici. (Please, stop by.)" Mario says with a smile.

"Multumesc. (Thank you.)" Bucky says gently smiling. Bucky's next stop...the library.

••••••••••
11:47 AM

Since Bucky had no GPS or cellphone, he would always go to the library and search the addresses to places on the computer. He would even print out maps and bus schedules so that way he could figure out how to find a certain destination, and figured it would be a good idea to head to the library to print out a map along with the bus schedule for the evening so he could plan accordingly to be at Mario's church for dinner that evening.