The United State

it gonna get hit

(according to my barber)

 

Tom Hubbard's letter from Connecticut

 

I reckoned it was time I had a haircut. I headed for the barber's pole in Willimantic's Main Street, and found that I would be not a customer, but a client, which was oddly reassuring. In an almost-echo of Raith Rovers back home, the talk was of the fortunes of the UConn Huskies, then it took off in other directions...
     My barber, a Latino:
     Hey where you from?
     Me:
     Scotland.
     Client in neighbouring chair:
     Scotland, that's in the UK. Hey I'm Scottish. My dad, he hates the British, but he likes the Scottish and the Irish.
     Youngish barber, of neighbouring client:
     Hey they're usin a NATO base in Greece to bomb Libya. You're Greek aren't cha?
     Greek-American client:
     Yeah I'm Greek and I'm a small guy. Small guys they havta look up to tie their shoelaces. Small guys say: don't spit, I can't swim.
     Black guy cutting Greek's hair, to Greek:
     How old are ya?
     Greek:
     Thirty-five. [To the youngish barber] How old are you man?
     Youngish barber:
     Thirty-one. [Pause] We gotta let these African countries sort out their own shit. We got our own shit to sort out here man. Goin in there, it's got nuthin to do with our national security.
     Client on seats at back, waiting his turn:
     But I want my kids to be safe.
     31-year-old:
     Hey man I want my kids to be safe too. I'm witya there man. I love my kids. I dunno who their muthahs are but I love my kids. Our guvment tells us nuthin man. Goin in ovah there, that's gonna f*** our national security. George Bush he said: this is a Noo World Order. He said that, September 11, 1991. Ten years later: boom. It's ironic man. The Noo World Order.
     Client neighbouring to me:
     These little kids ovah there, they're religious fanatics. They grow up fastah than kids here.
     31-year-old:
     We got religious fanatics in our country. They're the same. It's indoctrination man. We gonna get more trouble from domestic terrorism.
     Latino barber:
     The United State it gonna get hit. The United State it gonna get hit.
    Conversation returns to the UConn Huskies.
     31-year-old, to client on seats at back:
     Nice talkin politics witya man.
     Latino barber, completing my haircut:
     The United State it gonna get hit. The United State it gonna get hit.
     I'm walking along Main Street, heading for lunch. It's still bitter out, but sunny. Looking directly above, I wonder if that could have been the flight path of the plane that came from Boston and crashed into the World Trade Centre.

 

Novelist and poet Tom Hubbard is currently Lynn Wood Neag distinguished visiting professor of Scottish literature at the University of Connecticut. The job title initially referred to 'British' literature, but they decided that an improvement was in order. He is sending regular despatches to SR.