Guilt

I knew an English teacher from school had purchased a pumpkin for her daughter, so after fail number two yesterday, I called her up to ask her where she’d found it. She pointed us to yet another boutique, the owner of which in turn pointed us to a vegetable shop in Don Julio’s town.

I feel badly about my comportment with this English teacher. I end up having to be vague with her because I can’t think of plausible ways to mask my hanging out with Don Julio. And, you know, I’m a terrible liar, so I don’t think to shut my mouth. I stupidly told her I hadn’t found a suitable pumpkin at the store she’d told me about.
‘So…where did you finally find a pumpkin?’
‘Um…you know…a supermarket…’
‘Where, though?’
‘…Uh…’
‘Near you, I assume…?’
‘Yeah, it was a store…’ I trailed off and she changed the subject.

Idiot.

She’s so freaking nice, too. She even offered to take me to the shop herself when I called, but as I sat in Don Julio’s car, all I could think of to say was ‘No, I mean, that’s not necessary…’ I felt rude, and I imagine she senses I’m not being up front with her. I don’t like it.

It’s not a secret (I’ve met the man’s family and friends for Christ’s sake) but it’s not a genius plan to indicate that sort of thing to someone we both work with at school. (I mean, he told Lili, but she’s more friend than colleague.) Telling her that I’d found the pumpkin in a place everyone knows is the hometown of only one member of staff…Well, obviously, it implicates that person. And while he’s generally considered an all around nice guy, it’s suspicious that he’d take that much trouble to find something for the foreign kid out of pure generosity of spirit.

I don’t even know if he cares that much; he brought the pumpkin in to his class before I got to school, and his assistant joked with me about eating it, and he always engages me far more at school than I do him. Actually, today I thought if I keep trying too hard to ignore him, I’m going to stop being considered fun by the other teachers. Haha. Who knows? But, I certainly don’t want to be the one who’s too indiscrete.