On the Pluto Moon front, today I fried plantains for the soldier. The soldier has a soft spot for little girls… Girl Scout age. He was already like this when I met him when he was 19. In fact it was because of a little girl he decided to be a soldier and eventually to join Special Forces.
He told me back then how he had stood inside the fence of his privileged and protected school one day and watched a little girl be shot dead. She was shot off the fence of his school as she scrambled to climb it so she could get inside where he was and be safe and protected too. Both kids were about 10.
The soldier always wanted a daughter but sees it was not meant to be as he has essentially lost not one but two of them and then there was the girl with the plantains. I guess it’s different for a soldier who can speak the native language. Much easier to get attached and this is what happened to the soldier with this girl.
The country was war-torn and the fighting savage. There were people being nailed to telephone poles for starters… dead people everywhere. He said people were getting shot eating their breakfast; you could not leave the house without seeing someone dead and in the middle of all this was this little girl.
Both her parents had been killed, she was 9 or 10. A lot of the young girls got into prostitution but this little girl sold plantains. Every morning she showed up on the street with a basket of them that she had fried and put into packets and every day the soldier bought everything she had. He just cleaned out her basket. Whatever she had he bought it, he said he ate plantains morning, noon and night, and he tried to take her home.
I mean, he really, really tried to take her home with him. He pulled every string he could but he could just could not get her out of there and now she haunts him.
He wonders what became of her and he knows he will never find out. But I fried him some plantains tonight so he could remember. We are going to eat fried plantains for the rest of our lives in her honor because I know more about this girl then you could possibly imagine.
Read more of this story… Fried Plantains Redux
Dear God. I have no words.
That really makes me very sad. That’s probably the most touching story I’ve heard in a long time.
Elsa, I think I spend more time on your blog than I do anywhere else on the internet. I’d homepage it if I wasn’t so dependent on google.
What a big sweet heart to buy them all every day. This is sad and beautiful.
(You can puree some fresh mangos with a little tiny bit of sugar to ip them in. Mmmm.)
I have never made them before but did make a sauce… lots of oil, some vinegar, 2 Heads of garlic smushed and some fresh parsley.
He says the ripe ones – sweet are for breakfast, served with cream of some sort, I will figure it out. However it goes… serve with fried black beans, some sausage and eggs.
There is more to this story with the girl… it’s a hell of a story. And note that my daughter was going to be his daughter and then look what happened. 🙁
Yeah, he’s just not meant to have a daughter but I am telling you he saw that girl get shot and decided right there on the spot, if you were the kind of bastard who shot little girls he was going to get you!
And if you happen to be a girl scout and you’re selling cookies, well look out. He’s gaining weight!
Matter of fact he buys anything any little girls asks him to buy – he’s got so much worthless shit you wouldn’t believe it.
They send these DARE little girls out to the truck stops if you can believe that. They sell bags that say DARE on them and you just know he’s got a stack of them.
Remember when someone came on here and called him a misogynist?
::shakes head::
This is one of the most touching stories I’ve read in a long time. I’ll be thinking of her too now whenever I eat fried plantains.
I really, really appreciate this story! So much.
It is a hell of a story. Thank you for sharing this with us!
heartbreaking.
Oh, so the little girl wasn’t actually shot dead? Should I want to hear more, or is the rest just as sad as this?
Are plantains sort of like bananas?
🙁
The Soldier is as astonishing as you are, Elsa.
I’m starting the days with tears in my eyes, but I couldn’t tell you the emotion behind it. Not sorrow, not joy…I guess I’m touched by your entire journey with this man.
shell – I’d have to think about that. As you may know, I recently got a corrected time for his chart and believe it or not, I have not spent anytime to speak of with the new (real) chart so just have no way to comment other than to say that every story is as extraordinary as this one.
Elsa, I’m just wondering (tring to learn this stuff), is there any astrology as to why he seems to have something blocking him all these years from having a daughter?
my goodness gratious! This is the best war story i’ve heard. A simple gesture of kindness goes a long way.
Sweet and sad all at the same time. Poor guy, gettin’ his heart broken like that. . .. *sigh*
So sad. Why are humans just as evil as they are good?
dina2 – Balance maybe?