first thing in the morning she barrels in

daaaaad lets play frida kahlo fell off the bus

ok let me wake up a little

daaaaad get up

i get up

dilan lies on the couch

shes frida now

i pull a blanket over her

shes recuperating

sad face fluttering eyes

im making coffee shes

writhing in pain

yesterday i fell off the bus, she says, no today i fell off the

bus, i just fell off the bus

ooooooo, are you ok?

nooo, i need to rest we

hit the tram and i fell off the bus

my leg is broken

my back hurts

i was covered in gold

my sister helped me, christina

she helped me
i take frida milk and drawing materials

place them beside her bed

simulate a knock at the door

someones at the door, i call out

everyone can come to visit me, she says, but

they have to be quiet

and she falls asleep

i open the door, wave everyone in

hi everyone come through but please be quiet, dilan

i mean fridas

recovering

she fell off the bus

i sit the visitors down with careful gestures

frida writhes a bit more

frida sits up now

hiiiy, she strains

this morning i fell off the bus

it was very loud

it was very crazy

everyone was crying

but im getting better now

frida gets up slowly now

heroic, winces, hobbles, smiles

now shes walking freely its a miracle

ooohh she falls over

i pick her up and

carry her back to bed

weve been playing frida kahlo fell off the bus every morning

for two months

ever since we isolated

and she asked about the frida tableau on her wall

began to embody frida as recovery and resistance icon

we read the story over and over

polio at 6

one leg thinner than the other

fell off the bus at 18

long skirts

mirror above her bed

painting as recovery

art

therapy

communism

diego

feminism

chronic pain

mexico

eyebrow

blue house

miscarriages

america

lovers

queer

trotsky

art

death

fame

i brought the tableau back from mexico, i say, i visited her house, you know

in real life? she asks

yeeeeah, ten years ago, the blue house

did you meet her dad?

no shes dead but i went into her house

is she in mexico heaven?

yeah she is

can i send her a drawing?

of course you can
we have stopped playing frida fell off the bus

now we play secret garden

sometimes frida is a special guest

colin is crying in bed

colin is rescued by mary

mary wheels colin to the garden

they garden

the garden comes to life

bright colours like fridas garden

colin starts to walk again

colin is healed

now we stop playing secret garden

now we play jethro and emmett

two brothers from child care

one is six the other is three

they are plumbers

and we fix pipes under the dinner table