Learning the Rubik's Cube as children we were taught to curl under our desks when the bell rang something about Russia and a cold war we were quiet, we obeyed we longed to be outside … it was the discovery of pong and the Rubik’s cube now the hiding under our desks made sense if Russia did something it was like moving the red cube into the blue, then we had to hide until it was all over I remembered the feeling of mastering my Rubik’s cube while listening to Summer Nights on my Grease 8 track somehow what one country does affects the other the way green surrenders orange as an expectant mother, the father of my unborn child was away at the Gulf War somehow what one country did affected my country and the welcoming of a son white evacuated red when he came home I took him to the VA hospital though he longed to be outside and raised our son on $7 hour when he heard loud noises he would duck the way we used to when the bell rang only it was no longer about Russia it was about Iraq and memories in this young father’s head orange invaded yellow and I recalled the way it felt when after days of twisting and turning those 54 tiny cubes everything fell into place Only this time green wouldn’t leave blue… 3-8-06 Lisa Albright Ratnavira