The language of this grandmother
They are a family made up of the mother, a girl with black braids, about six or seven years old, the boy, her brother, perhaps a year younger, and the grandmother, a young, petite woman with short hair, glasses, and wearing jeans. They speak in Spanish with a perhaps Peruvian accent. The young grandmother, it's evident, is the one in charge. The one who knows that all four have to get off at Pallejà and how many stops are left, the one who tells her daughter (or perhaps it's her daughter-in-law) that there is a free seat at the back of the carriage and that she should take it, and the one who entertains the two children, who have sat with her. The girl takes out a book of the kind with magnetic pages where you can stick letters or flowers and animals, which come with the book itself.
“Let's see if you can tell me the numbers, because I don't know anything”, says the grandmother, jokingly. And here, then, an extraordinary linguistic phenomenon occurs. The grandmother, this decisive and practical woman, switches to Catalan and asks the girl: “Tell me... what is the circle?” The girl answers: “This one!” And the grandmother, immediately: “And tell me... what is the square?”, so the girl points to a figure and repeats: “This one!” Then they tackle the numbers, also with resounding success.
The mother is not involved in the activity at any time. I don't know if she understands the conversation. The boy is looking at his mobile. But the grandmother has already understood that this is the language of school. Perhaps she is the one who picks up the children and has exchanged a few words with the teachers. She already knows the numbers in this language that is not hers and, above all, she understands, or unintentionally intuits, that language is the pass to future social life. It hasn't been difficult for her to learn this, it's clear, as perhaps it would be for the girl's mother. She is one of those women who “want to understand” the mechanisms of the world. I recognize them instantly.
They get off at Pallejà when she says so. I smile. They have brightened up my journey.