Last night Mairym showed up at our house with an unusual request. She had been moved by a large graffiti mural done in Old San Juan, and had prepared a poem in response. She requested our help in putting it up, so we all got in the car and drove out to San Juan.

The closest parking we could find was in a dark alley, populated by four or five other cars, all with drivers sitting and waiting for ... something. We carefully ignored them. One of the cars, an old Mercedes, drove off as soon as we arrived, eying us carefully. During the few minutes it took us to take our stuff out of the car, he drove back around three more times. Nope, not creepy at all.

We walked down along the mural until we found a good spot, for her response, then set about taping it up. She had drawn the poem on 10 or 11 pieces of cardboard, so the taping took a while. Over the course of the next half hour or so, that same old Mercedes drove past another 10 or 15 times. Intriguing.

When the poem was up, we then taped up a few signs Mairym had asked us to help her prepare, attempting to call the artist's attention to the poem. Mairym hopes that the artist — or her brother, to whom the mural is dedicated — will happen by it before it is taken down or ruined by rain. Tonight is Noche De Galería, which always brings large crowds to San Juan, so hopefully the artist, or someone the artist knows, will notice the poem. We will probably never know one way or the other, but it will still have been an interesting night.