Which Reminds Me

I think that it was in 10th grade that we were taken on a field trip to see the movie, "Man of La Mancha" starring Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren, a musical, at Cine Presidente, the movie theatre that actually was not far from our school. It was not long after that time that Kike Siman, although not in our class, and I cannot exactly remember whether he went along on our class's field trip, took to serenading me in the halls of high school with the song "Dulcinea." He might have gotten a smile or laugh the first couple times so he kept doing that over and over again. Every time he might see me in the halls at my locker or walking to class he would get right in my face to sing "Dulcinea" to me. He also had an "I'm your Latin lover" speech that he would reel off, something that sounded vaguely like something I might have seen in a movie on TV. So this was really getting on my nerves. These Arab guys are just so stupid. No matter how coolly and emotionless I shrug off this stupid Kike, a nickname for Henry, he continues to get right in my face with his recited spiel and never gets a clue that his behavior is really anti-social and obnoxious and offensive and makes me want to scream. Finally one day I must have been particularly cold in just ignoring him, so he dropped the spiel and started spitting curses at me, something about how he was going to ruin my life or something to that effect. So obviously this Henry is no Christian. He has a lot in common with the starving guys who one fears to encounter on the sidewalk walking to a local store, because their English vocabulary is limited to, "I love you, baby," and you will hear them practicing vocabulary lessons as they walk past you. They actually have no other vocabulary, it is safe to presume.