The Walk

"Papi, why do they call it trade or trades?"

"Are you picturing, mi Hijo, the action of handiwork passed from hand to hand for another artifact?"

"Yes. But we are not trading our woodwork for pots and pans, or bread, or linen, or machines. People pay. Not trade."

"We used to exchange work for work, but that is not it, Hijo. Perhaps it is like Chinese Telephone."

"Is that different from our phone, Papi?"

"No, haha, Hijo. I thought you knew. It's a game."

"Oh."

"Someone tells someone something somewhat familiar. That person tells another who knows a little what they are talking about, who tells another who doesn't, who tells someone else, who has no idea what they are talking about. And finally, we end up with something vaguely reminiscent but totally different."

"What happened to trades?"

"Mi Hijo, it started with something like treads. The steps you took to get the skills needed to create within any craft. The treads were not education, so much as a way of life. A trek."

"A track?"

"Kind of, but see? How your tongue is twisting."

"Why Chinese?"

"I don't know, Hijo. I guess we are always apt to blame the foreigner for our own domestic issues."

2025 MAR 18