The Iowa Review
Volume 27
Issue 3 Winter
1997
This Is Our Song for Today
Lolita Hernandez
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Hernandez, Lolita. "This Is Our Song for Today." The Iowa Review 27.3 (1997): 137-145. Web.
Available at: http://ir.uiowa.edu/iowareview/vol27/iss3/24
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Article 24
Lolita Hernandez
This
Is Our
for
Song
Today
Years of solitude had taught him that in one's memory, all days tend to be
the same, but that there is not a day, not even in jail or in the hospital,
which does not bring surprises, which is not a translucent network of
minimal
surprises.
?from
The Waiting,
Jorge Luis Borges
FIREFLY
engine for the day arrived in front of the man whose
was to put the water pump and front cover on it, he opened
his
job
as the great Mississippi
as wide
in the days before debris
River
mouth
narrowed
its flow and out spilled his tenor's tongue in song: Firefly, ooh
When
the first
ooh firefly.
Clear
light tonight. With
over his job,
dangling
your
cheekbones
and
his
like rain drops on an emerald
leaf. Shine
at
aimed
the
network
of
air hoses
goatee
he
crinkled
the
his
into
and mellow
squeezed
could help
eyes
skin over
his high
a thin, wavy
line as if those
the moon and stars
song. Assist
chocolate
propel his
in helping us to ease our minds. A Temptations
song he heard on the radio
on the way to work followed
him from the Clark Street parking
lot and
facial
escorted
contortions
him
to his
station
on motor
line number
one. The
song settled
they stretched
then escaped
through his arms the first time
to place a front plate cover on an engine. The
song curved his body
a microphone:
over the creeping
as if caressing
engine
Firefly ooh ooh
one
his
in
his
shoulders
With
direction,
swaying in
firefly.
hips swiveling
another, he eased a cover onto each engine. Thuupp. Yeah. Golden light
in his chest
of serenity.
He was
so absorbed
notes that he didn't
the song's mellifluous
with
enter
from
his
mouth
and
the
linkage of the conveyor
slip
each time he stepped up to an engine. They
snaked to the end of the
of trash
the surface, and clung to the oily mixture
line, rolled under
at the head of
and garbage
that travelled
the conveyor. They resurfaced
notice
them
the line for the return
trip to his water
pump
job. At
the rate of eighty
137
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block
mal
an engine
of piston
line was
with
clank,
clank,
clank,
an hour,
the entire half-city
by mid-morning
warm
like
grease. Instead of the nor
running
the line flowed with a phlump, phlump, phlump.
hmmmm, phlump. Hmmmm,
hmmmm, phlump.
Firefly. Hmmmm,
His job was located just after the mid-section
of the line, past the
frantic team of eight noisy young men who
installed pistons. He used
to be elbow to elbow with
them in the middle
of the pistons until two
the cover job opened. When
prior, when
hear himself
think. He hummed
blues
couldn't
weeks
that he didn't
to know
need words
so
he worked
pistons he
so
low
and deep
songs
was
he
saying to himself. He
what
to block out the environ
that he managed
deep
ment
around him. He erased the cussing,
the fighting,
the drinking.
to
in
from
his
twelve years at
After
sweaty job
heavy job
shuffling
now at thirty he had landed in a spot where
low conversa
Cadillac,
went
himself
inside
and he could wear
jeans to work.
designer
the densely-peopled
piston
section at the head of the line. He was now in the middle
of nothing
of an as
but small talk, punctuated
by the blips, braaps and wiiirngs
sortment
air guns and the incessant
of bolt-tightening
clank, clank,
of human
clank of the conveyor. At the end of the line the murmur
tional
buzzing predominated
was a world
away from
He
conversation
came
with
Hmmmm,
chaos
the metallic
hmmmm, phlump. Hmmmm,
around the timing
themselves
the cam
engine
caressed
lobes,
with
the front
once
sleepy,
seemed
they
contented
and be
the crank
notes
hmmmm, phlump. Musical
over
slithered
and
around
chain,
throws
before
engines
the road. He looked
of the women
who
he
were
sealed
destined
him
around
them
in the
to hum
and
and
saw the
worked
nearby. Their hands
to air guns as if in a dream.
trays to engines
man
at
The engine
the end of the line leaned against his empty
repair
at each healthy
with
relief
that passed
in front
bench, nodding
engine
of him. The man on the last job lifted each engine from the line with
the
veyor
To
to float
of production
sounds
cover. Those
reached
smiles
of
noise.
part of the assembly
wound
purr
blended
the
transfer
destined
its
turnover
for
line
then waltzed
it to its place
on
a
hanging
con
two.
a source of
song "Firefly" became
his body as if it
he could have. He began moving
of
all the operations
the line, even those at
orchestrating
the notes
singer,
he never knew
power
were a baton
138
from bolt
of
the
its head;
the
remote
he had
control
the notes
through
riding
the links
of
conveyor.
and spotted
the quiet woman
surveyed his territory
never left the timing chains she installed.That's
when
He
almost
whose
eyes
he marched
a few
steps up the line to rouse her, bring her into his choir. He crooned
as if she had
your light naturally and she looked up in confusion
been yanked from another world. He instructed her?Open
your mouth
a
in
circle and sing, Firefly, ooh ooh firefly. He demonstrated.
perfect
?Shine
song for today. I can teach it to you. She fixed her dark
formed her mouth
into an "o" but before a
and obediently
our
Firefly?It's
eyes on him
note
could
the laughter of shyness overtook
and quiet, unaware
that it was
fall out,
to his job disgusted
embarrassed
by direct human contact.
A few engines
later he was relieved
for first
her. He
nature
her
break.
returned
to be
Before
leaving
last bar of song over his shoulder. J shouldn't have
to lie to make it seem all right. The
lady on the timing chain job began
on
her own soft humming.
She smiled, amazed that a Monday morning
a
one
line number
could begin with
song.
one
the line he threw
PAJARILLO, PAJARILLO
If she put her ear up to the line after each
she could
birds who
rafters
hear
a faint
chirp. At first
trapped inside and flew
became
for
looking
engine passed her station,
it was one of the many
she thought
a way
was
no way out up above
were
But
there windows.
low and straight,
all the machinery
the block
but,
then it would
of
course,
still have
in the cam department
Even if it reached
department.
were
so thick over
When
a bird was
there who
no
the
loading
and had fallen
hungry
in the conveyor
links
through
out
the lines; only
if a little bird
knew
what
to
one.
of the entire
in the
There
floor
that out by flying
about passing through
or all the lines and washers
in
to worry
as far as the head
line, things
to a little bird.
could
happen
that it had escaped
hoped
it had become
and
weak
the line and had been
the
found
rarely
at the edges
could figure
longer seen everyone
dock area, but knew
into
from high
frantically
underneath.
carried
She
away by the
that at
figured
pit
at
the
of summer when
the cleaners
changeover,
beginning
see a bushel or
removed
under the line, they must
the sludge build-up
two of dead oily birds.
every
year
139
She
from
looked
time
up every
real birds
a chirp,
Seeing none,
it was
thinking
she suspected
she heard
above
her.
an echo
that the
flying
from the spirits of the birds whose
bodies dropped
off the
at her section because
the sludge had lost its hold on them.
arose
chirps
conveyor
They were
calling out
else heard
one
to her.
to sing to them
in the line. She began
a
answer
tienes
bonitos
and
bird would
softly pajarillo, pajarillo; que
ojos
back with a chirp. Sometimes
she jiggled her timing chain over the line
because
she thought
the jingling
sounded
like their muffled
chirping.
No
chirps
L?stima
que tengas due?o.
She worked
her eight hours with her head bowed
and leaning
into
the line not to miss any chirps. For this reason she had developed
few
one came to visit her where
in the factory. No
friends
she worked
because
However,
she gave the appearance
didn't
her co-workers
of being
consider
a loner
her
or afraid
arrogant
of people.
because
her
she was
(even when
or getting
a cup of coffee
to the bathroom
the line walking
from the machine)
made her look humble. Many
of them realized
that
was
she
just plain shy and also that she didn't speak much English. Her
stooped,
away from
rounded
smile, when
and toothy.
She had
the
she cocked
learned
in her home
before
shoulders
the
town
her
and her bowed
head
head
to respond
song from her mother
Mexico.
of Agualeguas,
same few words
to a greeting,
was
wide
who
died many years
Her mother
had sung
the dishes or especially
(nada mas) when washing
when making
the tortillitas.
Pajarillo, pajarillo. Que bonitos ojos tienes.
never tired of singing
L?stima que tengas due?o. Her mother
the same
over
was
a
now
it is the
words
and over, but that
good thing because
she can remember.
She had almost
only song of her mother's
about it until the first time she heard a chirp in the line.
TURN
An
forgotten
ME ROUND
engine
block
fell
off
the line one
hour
before
lunch.
It jumped
off the light blue, oil-stained
stand on the conveyor;
it thumpa, thumpa,
for it by the broadcast
thumpa'd itself from the exact spot programmed
in
it
its
the
in front of it
from
between
block
way
system;
bugalooed
that was
scheduled
for a brown
140
Sedan
for a green Brougham
and the one behind
it, slated
It tumbled onto the wooden
of
de Ville.
floorboard
as if refusing
section
that sweet yellow
the piston
for it across the street in final assembly.
Eldorado waiting
The instant before it began its fall from the line all eight of the men
the
even
who
side
of
on the block:
the installers
of even
pistons
converged
on one side, the odds on the other. Some
buzzed
indistinct
installed
pistons
and guffawing
from the cluster which
be
emerged
cackling,
snorting,
one
a
to
Then
in
fluid
sound
like
the
motion,
gan
opera.
barnyard
shouted: heave ho, muthafucka and the
Someone
group reeled backwards.
block flew off the stand.
The
way
considerably
top corners.
any block
to escape
All blocks
sat on
it would
have to wiggle
conveyor,
the specially
constructed
stand that cradled
its
rode upside down on line number one in order
the
could lean against one and it wouldn't
piston installation.You
turn
it was tight and there were four
You
could
the
crank
when
budge.
or five pistons
in the block and it would
stay solid on the conveyor. You
or a hammer
or a piston
could take a big torque wrench
tray or any
move.
it against the block and it wouldn't
thing and knock
on line one, relatively
A block was light weight
It emerged
speaking.
to facilitate
hollow
for
from
the washer
the crank,
at the head
of the line: a scooped
out
section
a tunnel
for the cam, eight empty cylinders
for the pis
an
on
to
meet
It became
its way down the line
the crank,
engine
water
crank
oil
and
pump,
pump
pan. By
timing chain,
pulley,
pistons,
to
receive
the end of the line, a block was an engine,
the
ready
plumb
parts on lines two and three.
ing and electrical
a block
into the realm of engine
crossed
after the crank
Actually,
tons.
and pistons were
yellow Eldorado
pistons
engine,
This
in place. At the moment
the block scheduled
for the
on
a
it had
left its stand
the conveyor,
crank and four
in it. It was caught
in the middle
of its transformation,
half
half
block.
it happened.
First its rear lifted to the left, then the front
followed
suit and shifted. When
the front shifted as it did,
is how
right bank
the engine
block
began
a tumble
that would
put
the front
face
down
straight up in the air.
the same moment
that the engine block touched
the side of the
on the oil pan
line in the first stages of tumble, the woman
tightening
on
to
the last station
the line, threw her grey head
job, the second
arms and
back, closed her baby blue eyes, lifted her flabby, pale white
and
the left bank
At
141
belted
out
in a voice
as loud
turn
me
turn
nobody
round,
me
as a backfire,
and definite
turn
round,
me
Ain't
gonna
let
round.
It only
seemed
like her voice
of the
rang out in accompaniment
at all of events in the piston
block's descent. But she had no knowledge
area. Her station was far
away so that she could barely see the
enough
saw her head bob back and forth in time to
group there; they neither
nor heard her militant
tune. In vain the previous
the melody
day she
a one woman
had conducted
of work on
protest
against redistribution
a
extra
An
the line.
stud had trickled down from
station higher up and
on her job. An agreement
over
union and management
between
before had doomed
her struggle, but she continued
it with
song
was
on
the watchful
of
the
foreman
who
her
eye
camping
job,
to intimidate
her into silence. He didn't want her to rile the
landed
a week
under
hoping
others.
I'm gonna
job.
Next
the
keep
on walkin,
keep
on talkin, til
they change this goddam
from the stand in a one
disengaged
completely
an
For
instant
the
engine was right side up,
degree flip.
precariously
supported
by the edge of the line and a
engine
hundred-eighty
front forward
to it.
supply tray of rod nuts attached
over
All weekend
long she had brooded
let
gonna
turn
nobody
me
Any Friday afternoon,
But
reefer and bourbon.
lost
in the
relentless
body-bumping-body,
ness of the piston
It was
the changes
on her job. Ain't
round.
that engine
could have been
the victim
of
reasons
that Monday
it
fell
for
morning
eight
clicking,
sweating,
line.
clacking,
spitting
clanking,
that seemed
whirring,
buzzing,
to be the real busi
in its final
that the
stage of falling
engine was
woman
in
who
installed
the timing chain at a station almost exactly
In
the center of the line, also heard the strains of melodic
resistance.
when
the
in her right the cacophony
left ear there was music,
ton area. Through
her body the two unrelated
phenomena
So just at the moment
that the engine flipped another
her
eighty
degrees,
supported
Turn
me
bumped
it, and landed
round,
turn
me
the edge
against
on the floorboard,
round,
turn
me
from
the pis
one.
became
one-hundred
of
the tray that had briefly
the timing chain lady heard
round.
a hole in the floor
the engine
crashed, BOODOOM,
creating
six piston installer normally
stood. Two men picked
board where number
Then
142
it singing heave ho.
the engine with
their hands and reloaded
a tray of
The
chain lady looked
timing
straight ahead at
pistons
on
floor
overhead
and
from
the
second
the
wondered
conveyor
coming
up
see
if they would
an engine
that day. To
the foreman who was completely
inside
the
of
singing lady argued with
six installer was
the fallen engine. To her right, number
in an effort to load his piston
the hole in the floorboard
for
designated
the brown
JUMBIE JAMBOREE
The woman
who
Sedan
her
left
the
unaware
of
around
dancing
into the engine
de Ville.
the piston
the panorama
rings observed
of craziness
the line from her subassembly
station. She
up and down
we
as
said to herself Oui foote
she lifted
making real bacchanal here today
number
to check
one
checked
the tray in front of her. She twirled
its rings
for damage and strained to hear the tinny tinkling of the rings
in their grooves. They sounded light and airy next to the thump
from
piston
slapping
ing and all the jumping up and down from
her. She was always back to back bottom
the thin young men behind
to bottom with
the whole
crew as she shuffled from end to end of her
piston
That
short stretch didn't give her enough
exercise
eight-foot
to shake
zone.
off
the
bowls
of pelau she brought
for lunch each day. So she grew big and
and every day found
say in her native Trinidad,
bufootoo, as they would
some
to
with
slim
her dancing
cheek
cheek
the
young man
shooting
same pistons
by her
side not
lap like
three
she had
wide
the
Oui foote. These
days her arms hung
to her heart, and her breasts nestled
in her
she left back home when
she came to this
checked.
close
children
to get a job so she could feed them because
her husband had
country
left her and gone to another
island. She told some of her co-workers?
He
went
to Cuba. At
these
they said, but who knows. Men
men
run
want.
travel
however
like
these
up and
days
Just
they
foolish young
a
down this line when they get
little bit of brown juice in them.
It wasn't
bourbon
least that's what
that possessed
had finished waking
that morning
before
lunch,
before the week
up, even though an engine jumped
off the line as if it already had juice and spark in it. Before
long she
found herself getting
into the swing of things. This is one jumbie jambo
ree going on here. And she began
singing an old calypso song, her mother's
favorite.
Back
them
to back, belly to belly, I don't give a damn, I done dead
already.
143
the trays over
on, nuh boys, punch it up, punch it up. She danced
on the main
to their destination
line. She could feel
conveyor
Come
roller
up her
trays traveling
her pummeling
her bones
in time to the bouncing
from
rattling
section
the
behind
arms
and
the noise
as if she were
from
the
the
the
one
big conga
and
the
trays
piston
vibrating
rhythms.
one piston in. Pshoop, number
Pshoop, number
four piston in. Pshoop number
three piston in. Oui foote. Back to back, belly to belly, in a jumbie jamboree.
Since she had been at the plant, she had never seen such a commo
drum
tion.
It was
as if all of them,
the torque-checkers,
were
loaded up with
that whole
the crank man,
section, those
even she?it was
a stinging Trinidad
to relieve the
their bodies
cow-itch,
shooting pistons,
as if all of them
plant,
to dig
to
It seemed
and had
itching.
deep into all parts of
and scratched
until
inside
her that they had scratched
they reached
was
off
of
them:
tiredness
their souls and everything
everything
falling
from
from the wiiirng
of the air
the pistons,
tiredness
wiiirng
wiiirng
on
from someone
the
line
and
tiredness
always banging
yelling
guns,
wake up muthafuckas.
She wondered
why
the foreman
was
nowhere
to be
seen when
the
us. Let him keep his tail
engine fell off the line but told herself Better for
wherever he is. And she shuffled her feet and swung her big bottom
right
to left, back to back, belly to belly, shaking off the lonely days without
her
for the sight of bright red anthuriums
growing
her
and
the
salt
breeze
of
the
Mayaro
hitting
ground
straight
a
face. I don't give
damn, I done dead already.
No matter what ached in any of them, in her opinion,
that morning
was the most
It
in the history
of Cadillac
installation.
piston
exciting
children
and
out
the ache
of
an engine
the two
had fallen off the line. When
the engine back and front, said heave ho and swung it
installers grabbed
onto its stand, the whole
section broke out in raucous
applause. The
was
the first
time
two
low and swept their
bowed
for replacing
the engine
responsible
to the floor as if they were courtiers.
Come on, boys,
bellowed
She
let us send this engine down the line infine style and they all joined her for
so loud and strong they
a chorus of jumbie jamboree. Their voices were
arms
a cycle. They didn't seem to care one
speed of the line half
was
headed out of their section on its
the renegade
engine
to the cam, timing chain and front cover stations.
the
upped
bit because
way
144
Come on, nuh boys, punch it up, punch it up. Let them all know we here and
a piston from
don't give a damn because we done dead already. She grabbed
it
her checking
tray and held it by both hands above her head, rocking
as
were
in
review
if she
the
back and forth
stand
the Savannah
passing
on opening
Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Oui foote. Let me
day of Carnival,
hear the chorus. Back to back belly to belly. We don't give a damn, we done
dead already, we done dead already, we done dead already.
145