Esa mañana Canutito was kneeling on a chair in the kitchen, slumped over la mesa estudiando algo muy interesante. He just kept trying to memorize algo para la escuela. He was repeating: "Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack jumped over el candlestick." Just then Grampo Caralampio entró en la cocina and noticed Canutito muy preocupão studying.

"What are you doing, m'hijo?" he asked him.

"Oh grampo," Canutito began, "la mestra asked us to memorize este poem and it is muy duro."

"So, she asked you to aprenderlo de corazón, heh?" Grampo Caralampio remarked. "I remember cuando I had to learn it en mis tiempos. I think que I still remember it. I think que iba something así: 'Jack be nimble se murió, de un ataque que le dió. El doctor lo examinó; pura peanut butter le sacó.' Yes, I'm chur que that was el modo que I learned it," he said finishing up and sipping on su cafecito con leche.

"Boy grampo, you sure are smart," Canutito said to him, not even realizing de que grampo had gotten todo pa'l carajo. "Pero I think que si I continue studying so much I'm going to hacerme loco."

"¿Por qué no vamos into the next room and watch el television," grampo tempted him. "There might be algo suave to look at a este tiempo del día."

Canutito put away su homework and followed grampo into el cuartito dónde el television was sitting arriba de la cómoda. El knob del television was broken, so he took out las tenazas que Grama Cuca kept until her pillow. Drawing the pliers from under la almohada he was able to turn the television dial un channel a la vez.

Primero Canutito wanted to watch 'Los Adventures de Ozzie and Harriet' pero there was too much nieve en el screen. Grampo Caralampio then tried to get him to change the channel to watch las luchas o los moquetes. He really liked to watch wrestling and boxing and he even had his favoritos. Among the wrestlers his heroes were El Picos and Los Hermanos Romero. Canutito quickly got bored mirándolos and he changed el channel to watch a los mariachis en el Show de Valentín De La O. Grampo Caralampio seemed to like it too so se pusieron a watcharlos.

"There sure are munchos commercials en t.v.," Canutito remarked después de que una commercial for 'Personna' shaving blades came on. Después it was followed by un commercial por 'Speedy' Alka Selzer.

Grampo Caralampio chortled where he was sentão on the rocking chair. "I like este commercial muncho," he remarked. "Ese monito del Speedy Alka Selzer reminds me mucho de ti when you were a little baby."

"I don't think que I look anything como el Speedy Alka Selzer," Canutito defended himself.

"¿Por qué no le haces change el channel to see what else is on?" Grampo Caralampio prodded him.

Canutito changed the channel and found de que there was nothing más que commercials por donde quiera. La primera caught his attention though porque it was un commercial por 'Oscar Mayer' Wieners. The tonadita got him all atencionão, and he found himself singing along with it: "Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener. That is what I'd truly love to be, 'cuz if I were and Oscar Mayer Wiener, everyone would be in love with me."

"That is un catchy little song," grampo remarked. "I think que me gusta mucho a mí also." He got up from his chair mecedora and shuffled out into el portal. Through the ventana that opened up into el porch, he could see his grampo barriendo singing the hotdog jiggle: "Yo quisiera ser un Oscar Mayer Wiener. Es lo que yo quiero ser aquí. Pues, si yo fuera un Oscar Mayer Wiener, todos would all be in love with me."

"A que mi grampo," Canutito smiled. "Even he is getting all moderno..."

¿Le gustaría compartir sus propias anécdotas o comentar con Torres sobre esta columna? Envíele un correo electrónico a lartor@unm.edu.