In the middle of winter, it hit 70 degrees and felt like a typical day in May.
What a world!? The breeze and bright sun were welcoming, however, as
we strolled toward the library to return a book.
Tim didn't consider HTML a language. "It is [sic] cody editing" he said. "Try to write
a program with a real language to do the editing, then." I suggested. But he was
more interested in literature and history, he told me. "Great! But please don't
pursue art with an empty stomach." So it went. Time with Tim was never boring.
We passed a house with a fake carrot hanging under a sign that said: bunny bait.
"I never knew that rabbits could reproduce very fast." Tim remembered and told a
joke about their multiplication. I returned with the knowledge from a New Concept
English article where the rabbits first introduced in Australia bred so rapidly
that they soon became a pest destroying the enivronment.
As usual, we traded words. He readily came up with the meaning of cot which I
just learnt and forgot. I told him about coulee which meant "deep gulch," the
name of the trail we hiked last week in the QuickSilver park.
We returned to the nearby meadow after dropping off the book and at my request, he
did a single-leg squat, which made me very happy. "Never lose it." I told him, again.
"Hey Tim, I've just discovered a great way to sit on a chair but wait, why
aren't you listening?" "K went to this school here." He pointed to the building
across the lawn. (K was his dream girl in 6th grade.) "Oh. Right! That explains
it! You are totally forgiven." "Come on, Dad."
"A train's coming!" I shouted as we crossed the tracks and Tim sprinted. "Why?
It's still a mile away." I added. There was no embarrassment in his reply: "I don't want
to replay that locomotive scene in 'Stand By Me'." He was a very conservative kid.
So we moved onto movies. Tim became queasy as I insisted on telling about the
horror scenes from 'The Silence of the Lambs' and its sequel 'Hannibal' and tried
to change the subject:
"I can't believe it's already MLK Day. I thought it was going to be next week."
"Yeah? Do you know what Malcolm X said when King won the Nobel?"
"No."
"'Dr. King won the prize. We got the problem.'" I recited, then marveled:
"That guy really had a way with language." and followed with "We should
watch 'Malcolm X' today."
We crossed the street and arrived at 391 San Antonio Road. Three tall gangly
structures stood on the pavement and one looked like a yellow water tower on two
bent legs. Behind them on the building wall were mounted a few plaques where the
paragraphs were titled "THE BIRTH PLACE OF SILICON VALLEY." Shockley
Semiconductor Lab was here 65 years ago! (And I finally showed Tim the place.)
I love to walk with Tim.
