New Year's Eve

I just got off the phone with Bernadin. I had paused the movie I was watching because I wanted to be sure to call him before he fell asleep around 9:30pm, but when I called, he was waiting with the other boys for the New Year's party to get started! Apparently, every year the kids celebrate Dr Bernard's birthday and New Year's with a late night party at the girls' house. They will have soda and cake, some of the children will perform songs, dances or stories, and no one will sleep. (Actually, Job is asleep on the roof right now and Bernadin admits that he may not make it through the night, but he is going to try. I told him that I would call in the middle of the night to check on him if I wake up as I usually do.) At one point, he stopped me mid-sentence to ask if I could hear all the noise in the street below him. Sure enough, I could hear one of my favorite Creole rap songs being blared from the little restaurant behind the orphanage and the chaos of scores of people milling around in the square. "I can hear it, Bernadin," I said. "Yes, well, I think you're mean," he answered. "Mean? Why am I mean?" "Because you aren't here with us." Believe me, Bernadin, I wish I was there. I have had a very nice New Year's Eve, first downtown with two of my best friends, and then around my neighborhood with my roommate, Dan, but nothing would be better than standing on that roof with my boy and enjoying the holiday the Haitian way.