Below the secret room was the porch where my brothers and I watched thunderstorms in the summer and rated the lightning on form, style and execution. Next to the porch was the living room where people sat and talked. During the anti-war movement days it was a dormitory too.

My mom and dad had carried on the fine family tradition of doing good so they had gone to China and produced two of my three brothers. When the communists gained power in China they kicked most missionaries out and my folks went to Turkey after dropping by the U.S. to produce me. So I spent my first few years on Earth in Turkey which was OK and I think I really liked it. I don’t remember many details but there is a deep impression of desert and peoples with many colors and sounds. Later on I saw a picture of my kindergarten and it looked like a “We are the World” poster.

Friends of my folks from Turkey, China and elsewhere would drop by occasionally, have dinner and later tea in the living room. My brothers and I ate separately at those times and were banished to the rec(kt) room to play and then to bed.

Sounds travel upward when they are happy so sleeping on the second floor allowed the conversations in many languages to drift up into my dreams. When Turkish comes into my dreams I dance around a fire and sing. When Chinese comes into my dreams I talk and paint and cook. When English comes into my dreams I laugh and invent things.

The sound of adult voices in another language on young ears is really amazing though. It affirms the mystery of a world much bigger than us and brings comfort that those big people are busy figuring it all out while I am falling asleep and tomorrow will be a beautiful new day. It is the sound of the voice that is meaningful not the content. Every cat knows this.

The sounds from the living room tended to collect in the secret room like fine dust. They murmured of far off lands seen in slide shows. Occasionally the crack of thunder would stir the languages violently in a swirl and I would pull the covers more tightly over my head until it all settled down.

Next: Part 9 – Rockets, Wind Tunnels and Worms