My name is Saprol. I don’t like the way it sounds. I don’t like the way when people call my name. I wonder why my parents gave me that name. It was okay when I was little. Not anymore.
Before I start whining and elaborating with disgust about my name, ill tell a bad Israeli joke, which I read from somewhere (a book). A merchant was selling brains. He exclaimed the Arab brain was for $250 and the Jew one was $2. When asked why, the merchant answered, ‘because it’s hardly ever used’.
Unlike the other days/ nights today was much cooler and here I am sitting in my room and punching the keyboard in order to express the way I feel about my name. In hope that I would feel better later on, knowing that I’ve done something to mend the way I feel.
We had guests of my dad coming over tonight. They were about to have dinner in my house to respect my father’s invitation. They were to show up anytime soon. I had nothing to do with it, but when they all have arrived I had to go down and shake their hands, to show respect. A family and a few of his close friends were assumed to show up. I am thinking of going out to have a drink with some friends, close friends, who don’t care about my name. Friends called me Aprol, it sounds way better than Saprol. And it sounds similar to the month April. Sometimes I tell people that I was named Aprol because my mum gave birth to me in the month of April. They’d always reply, ‘that’s so weird’. Of course it was. It was a lie.
The expected guest arrived approximately half an hour or forty five minutes later than promised. It was a tradition by now. Coming late, that is. Almost everyone I knew weren’t punctual. It’s nothing new though. I am guessing they were giving their host, the people who were expecting them more time to get ready or prepare or dress or for whatever the occasion was. I could hear people’s voices talking, laughing, and almost shouting downstairs. I could hear them clearly though the door to my room was closed. I decided it was time for me to go down and shake hands and address myself to the guests. I opened the door; the voices were much louder and clearer than before. I could see people settling down on the couch from where I was standing, just outside the room.
The television was turned on upstairs, which was the hangout place for my mom and siblings. It was a place, to them, private and soothing. There were a couple of telies and other electrical gadgets, most of them were for entertainment. Some were not; they were positioned accordingly on the large wooden table which was originally meant for studying. If I am not mistaken about that, I noticed both my siblings and my mum affectionately watching a Korean show that was on at that time. I looked at them in disgust and shouted, ‘why wasn’t I informed about the show, and you’re supposed to be down entertaining the guests. Looking at my mother, ‘your father can do that, besides the dinner is all served and all they need to do is to feed themselves’. She replied then turned around continued watching the show. That was her only getaway and I wasn’t planning to ruin it. I ignored the rest of the occupants upstairs and was on my way down the stairs. Upon reaching the end of the staircase I slowed my pace and walked calmly headed towards the guests. They were all seated on the couch and were talking about something of their interest.
I saw a crowd of 10 or so. Most of the faces were familiar except for the one who brought the family. I recognized the guy but not his family. I started shaking their hands and saying hello, smiling to them as if I was welcoming them to my dad’s home. My dad introduced me, telling to his friends, ‘this is Saprol, my second child, he has grown a lot’. The little girl, who came with her family at that time, looked as if she was stopping herself from laughing. She looked at me and said, ‘Saprol’. Softly I could barely hear her, but knew she was making fun of my name. I just smiled back and continued shaking hands of the other guests. One of the men said to me, ‘Saprol, now that’s a unique name’. He was smiling as if he was amused by it. I replied, ‘oh, thank you, yes I am aware of that’. I couldn’t wait to get out from the crowd. I was used to it but wasn’t immune to it.
There was a riddle I remember a business man asked to another. Why is it that women aren’t used for cutting deals? The answer was because women give and forgive and men get and forget. Anyways, I succeeded in leaving the guests almost immediately as I said that I had something important to attend to. I excused myself and I noticed my father gesturing his guests to the dining table not so distant from where they were seating. They were making their way towards it. I was upstairs back in seconds. I climbed the wooden layered stairs swiftly and found myself standing directly in front of the T.V. the show was still on and the viewers were still there.
I didn’t quite follow the show but whenever I had the chance. I’d watch it. Mainly because of the actress who acted in it. She was attractive and there was something about the way she looked that made me judge that she wasn’t only nice on the show. And the character that she played in the show was that of a lady living in a modern world yet still was old fashioned. Something about old fashioned girls that I am practically obsessed about I think it’s because they were nicer in general. I stood there for a while watching the T.V with the rest of the family members excluding my dad. It stopped for commercial and I saw movements. Movements of people walking by, readjusting their seats and the one with power was holding the remote and started browsing the channels till the show was on back. I was still standing in front of the T.V there wasn’t any chair left for me to sit on. I made my way back to my room. Switched the light and fan on and feeling glad that I was back in my room with no one to disturb me.
I was sitting in front of my computer with a game controller in my hand. My phone rang. Its tune was of the Mac Gyver song. I thought that it was cool and since it was mine (the phone). I decided that it was cool to have that tune as a ring tone even when it’s really old and people don’t recognize it anymore. I decided on not to answer it, but after thinking twice thinking that it wasn’t a particularly nice thing to do, answered it. I switched of the computer put on some clothes randomly and switched of the fan and light in the room and made my way out. I eyed the T.V one last time looking at the hot Korean chick and feeling good about it. I was downstairs and fortunately didn’t have to shake the guest’s hands because they were eating, ignoring the kids, and said to my dad that I’d be out for a while. I was out of the house and my friend was in his vehicle waiting for me to get in. I wasn’t disgusted by the name given to me for now. I decided that I’ll think of it some other time and if I am still unhappy about it. I’d change it. For now, I plan on ignoring the fact that I have a weird name and pretend as if I am contend with it.
