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April 14, 2007
El Septimo Nieto
I can’t sleep; I can’t go to bed. I’m just wide awake, lying here, thinking. It’s only 11:41 p.m. But I’ll be posting this in the morning, most likely. To my right, I hear an odd noise—a spinning sound. It reminds me of the sound of my washing machine, spinning at home in New Jersey. I wonder if it’s the fan making noise downstairs.
To my left, I peak out the window into the back yard. Tree limbs are dancing around in the light of the moon. Without my glasses, it reminds me of a fight—back and forth the branches sway, hitting each other in the wind. It reminds me of the story I read for class, the story of Anancy the spider. It’s about a spider that fights twig-like ghosts.
But in addition to the noise and the movement coming from the back yard, I can’t sleep because I’ve been preoccupied thinking.
You see, you’ll never guess what happened. You’ll never guess what happened because the fact is, I already did.
If you recall from my last entry—the one about my miserable trip to Cancun—I made up a story to Mr. Charly and his wife as an excuse to come home early.
Here was the story:
“I need to go home immediately,” I told them. “You see, my host ‘sister’ (it’s hard to call her sister when she’s in her 40’s) gave birth to her baby early and the whole thing was such a shock to the family that it put my host father in the hospital. I need to go home because Ben isn’t home and my family’s relatives from Mexico City have come to Merida to pass the Semana Santa. Someone’s got to look after the house and help them out while all this is going on. I’m really sorry. I must leave Cancun and go back to Merida.”
The family helped me buy my ticket home to Merida early at the Cancun station.
That’s the story I made up. That’s the story that got me out of Cancun.
That story came true yesterday.
Yesterday was a big day for my host family. My host “sister” Gabby, who indeed was pregnant, found out that she was ready to deliver her baby earlier than expected. Almost 3 weeks early. Meanwhile, this all came as such a shock that Antonio, (her brother that came from Mexico City with his family to pass the vacation) that he was rushed to the hospital. The family was tied between dealing with him in the hospital and dealing with the birth of Gabby’s baby, Antonio III.
And to add to it all, Ben isn’t home. He decided to go to Chiapas by himself...
So it was a good thing that I came home—good because I’m here to welcome the birth of a new member of the Cardenas family and good because I’m here to help out if they need me.
I’m here to welcome into the family my Señora’s septimo nieto.
Yesterday, I watched Julito and Dede (a.k.a. Miranda), two of my Señora’s youngest grandchildren, while she was busy running around doing things.
And so I’m sitting here thinking, thinking in a superstitious sort of way. The events of yesterday really made me realize that you never know what will happen.
I must say that for the first time in a long time, I really puzzled myself. It’s almost like I read the future…
You never know what your thoughts or words might bring. And so, I think I’ll say a prayer for the family that everything will work out alright. They’ve been so good to me that I hope the best for them in return.
Because you never know what tomorrow brings.
And you never know just who’s listening.
Posted by jlsumich at April 14, 2007 12:40 PM