Sunday, November 23, 2003

My father had read the letter himself, but not believing what it said, he thought maybe he had read it wrong. Now he was having me read it, and as I read it to myself, I noticed that his hand was trembling. Has it always trembled, and just now I’ve noticed? Or was it the thought of bad news that caused him to do that? He had spent more than twelve hours at work, and now he had come home to find a letter that read (paraphrase) “Your daughter has tested positive to a drug test. In ten days she’ll be out of a job.”

When Nayeli, my 19 year old sister, had arrived to USA she said that she wanted to be a doctor. She seemed to have had the aptitude for it. She had done well in school, back in Mexico. Somehow things went wrong and not only was she not doing well in school, but she was causing my parents problems outside of it.

In one occasion, while she still lived at home, my parents called her job to see if she was there. The manager told them that she was absent, because her father was very ill. When he heard that, my father probably asked, “I am?” My father was as healthy as a horse. She had made up an excuse so that she could spend the evening with her boyfriend and friends.

She came home a few hours later. Aware that my parents had found out about her lies, she did not say a word as she packed her stuff. This wasn’t the first time she was leaving home. To my mother it seemed like the last. Usually thought to be a stern parent, my mother cried in the living room, seeing how her daughter seemed not to care about what she and my father had to say. When Nayeli closed that door for the last time that day, my mother’s sobbing became louder.

My mother is not the only one who’s disappointed with Nayeli. My grandmother is more so. While Nayeli was living away from home, my mother made a trip to Mexico to see our grandma. My mother had a dilemma: tell my 80 year old grandma that Nayeli had left the house and that we don’t know where she is? Or keep it a secret for as long as possible, and hope that she doesn’t find out from other people?

My mother decided to tell grandma, and upon hearing the news, having held high expectations for Nayeli, my grandmother asked… “Do you think she’s still a señorita?” She was asking my mother if she thought she was still a virgin. Although she had never heard anything to prove the contrary, my mother could not give her a “yes.” My grandma was hurt.

Today my mother returns from her most recent trip to Mexico. She meant to be there for about two weeks, but she got sick as her date of departure approached, so she was told to stay in Mexico a few more days. I believe she was diagnosed with having high blood pressure. Will my father share the news with her?

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