Man in a Box

On Thursday evening I noticed a new cart in the ¨bustling¨ centro of San Andres. I mozied over to find a life size diarama with two small cardboard boys bobbing tyheir blonde heads over a xylophone; a paper mache woman with an abnormally large head covered in brunette curls playing the saxophone, and....the kicker: a REAL man shaking 3 red maracas. Now you may wonder what kind of man could spend day and night in a box with a band made of cardboard beings...well, he´s exactly the type of person that I like to observe fully and then store in my memory box for future use in my novel (novel of life that is...no plans of publishing).

He is about 65, he wears knit sweaters over button up shirts, and he sits in a metal chair next to his cardboard companions between each performance. Once an audience gathers (or an audience member) he stands up with the faintest trace of a smile, presses play on a tape player that is behind a lace curtain and grabs his maracas. He then proceeds to shake the maracas with a subtle elbow to wrist twitch while the lovely lady sings (please not that his faint smile has disappeared although his wrinkles suggest he has smiled often.

After about 2 minutes he pulls a magical string and the saxophone rises to the woman´s rosy lips and she lets loose. This goes on for another 2 minutes and then the tape clicks to a stop and the man settles back down on his metal chair...fascinating.