Counter Revolution - The Coconut Chronicles: Two Guys, One Caribbean Dream House - page 83

We described the general effect we wanted, told her the type of cabinets we'd chosen,
and gave her the exact measurements of the space.
She laid it all out on a computer grid and shifted appliances and cabinets around with a
practiced flourish, peppering us with questions as she worked.
“Where this house is?” she inquired, batting her preposterously long lashes.
“Upper Northwest,” Michael hastily replied.
There was an awkward pause.
“I don't think so,” she giggled.
How could she possibly have known?
Michael stared single-mindedly at the computer screen, determined to bluff his way
through.
“How about if you put the dishwasher there?”
But I couldn't bear it any longer.
“It's in Puerto Rico!” I blurted out.
You'd have thought she was applying hot coals to the soles of my feet.
Michael gave me a very pronounced Look.
“We're planning to buy everything from Home Depot ,” he explained to Luong. “Just
not this Home Depot .”
She paused for half a moment.
“No matter,” she said good-naturedly. “Maybe someday I come to Puerto Rico to see.”
This seemed unlikely though maybe no more unlikely than our ordering a kitchen for
our house in Puerto Rico from a Vietnamese woman in Virginia.
She gave us a computer printout that included detailed drawings and all the necessary
specifications.
As we said goodbye, we told her we'd bring back photos of the finished kitchen. (We
kept our promise a year later, after the kitchen was completed.)
Over the next month, Michael developed a close personal relationship with a woman
named Ana Maria at the Home Depot in Carolina, just outside of San Juan. He even learned
to say, in halting Spanish, “ Quiero hablar con Ana Maria en muebles de cocina .” (I need
to speak with Ana Maria in kitchen furniture.)
This usually got the desired results, although on one occasion he was transferred to
light bulbs, proving that just when you think you're getting the hang of a foreign language
someone shoots you down.
Michael and Ana Maria talked every day. Sometimes it struck me that their relationship
was more meaningful, more fraught with depth and nuance, than ours. I wasn't exactly jeal-
ous, but I did wish I could debate the finer points of double-hinges with greater panache.
Slowly but steadily our order took shape. Of course there were inventory issues. Even
though we had deliberately chosen a very simple cabinet style, most items in that line were
on back order. Maybe, I reasoned, it was because we had chosen such a simple style that