Mercurio Macneish Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

(A very short story. Prosed and Fictioned)

Your name?
Again?
I apologize for not remembering.
However...
I do recall it being unique.

'No problem.
My name is Mercurio MacNeish.'

That's right.
You're from Scotland or is it Wales?
No.
It was Ireland I believe.

'Actually I was born in the Congo.
To parents who were both from Argentina.
And the only languages they knew and spoke,
Were Hindu, Italian and some Chinese.'

Interesting.
So you were named after your father?

'No.
His name was Marcus.
I was named after my great grandfather.
Who was West Indian.
But only then had spoken only Chinese.'

But that name,
MacNeish?
Isn't it Irish?

'Oh no not at all.
You see, my great grandfather,
Who was a Spaniard...
But born to Haitians when they escaped,
And traveled the seas.
Somehow ended up in the West Indies.
And there had been adopted by 'aliens'...
Claiming to be Chinese.
To get my great grandfather prepared for business,
He was sent to Chicago.
And when he first arrived everyone there,
Assumed his name was MacNeish. Mercurio MacNeish.
But he was saying to them, ' Me no. Me Speak Chinese.'

I see.
And...
What is it that you do?

'I have chosen to be an interpreter.'

That's a good profession.
For whom do you work for?
The government?

'Exactly.
How did you guess that? '

You have a wide array of experiences.
And with your background?
It was an easy guess for me.

'Yeah.
I work in the local prisons.
Interpreting for the police...
Ebonics into English.
Since it has become difficult to understand,
The hip hop ways kids today communicate and speak.
Unfortunately,
Many end up in prisons illegally.'

So...
You ARE 'black' right?

'Isn't it obvious?
I thought that was understood,
When I said I was born in the Congo.'