Sherry Williams

HATS

Chie is sitting in a wooden wagon, a “caravan” like the gypsys would live in. It is deep in the woods and has beautiful colorful decorations on the outside. It is quiet...I notice I am sitting on one end of the interior of the wagon with George and Susan. Chie sits on a beautiful cushion at the other end of the wagon, and is intently talking to us about something. Then from the right window a periscope slowly comes up to watch the scene, focusing mainly on Chie. George, Susan, and I could see that David is holding the periscope from the outside.

Chie doesn’t seem to notice or mind what is happening. I look at George and say to him without speaking, “do you see that?” and he says to me without speaking, “yes’. Chie keeps talking and still doesn’t notice the periscope coming up and down through the window looking at her.

Then, David reaches through the window and places a beautiful strong hat on Chie’s head...made of metal and earth, elegant and very heavy.

Chie pauses just a minute from what she is saying and says, “oh, thank you”. She wears the hat well. David retreats from the window...time passes. Then he eventually takes off that hat and puts another one on her head. This happens several times. Each time Chie says, “thank you” and David kind of nods and has a bit of a trickster glint in his eye...a knowing.

He keeps putting hats on Chie and finally we all start laughing. She takes the last hat off, holds in her hands, places it on her lap and say, “ok, I get it”. We all laugh even more.