The Acentos Review

Aeropuerto

         You stress too much, I sent you to that school to learn, not to be anxious como una chihuahua, pass me your basketball shorts so that I can wrap these dulces, give me the spare maleta that we brought stuff in for Papa y tu Tio y tu Tia y tu second cousin that you just met y tu third cousin with the lazy eye and my brother’s girlfriend that always smells like ajo, no, Junior, they won’t stop us at security, that’s only coming here, me estas poniendo nerviosa, in the Dominican Republic they don’t stop you, te recuerdas??, we have a checkpoint in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico is an island mijo, they will never check us there, pass me your video games so that the maleta where the dulces go can be heavier, give me a pair of your shoes so that this agua bendita doesn’t smash and it can protect us for our entire trip, put all of the wet clothes in the dulces maleta, if for some reason they stop us at the security checkpoint we can just say it’s the ropa and they’ll let us go through, where are our passports, where is my bag full of other bags, Junior, where is your brother, Junior, did you buy the gifts for your teachers, para que esperas, Dios??, Junior, ya te dije, you’re getting confused, your cousin was stopped the last time porque el compro alcohol y el no tenia dinero y dios lo castigó por ser freco, don’t spend money that you don’t have mijo, we don’t have money and we took vacation, y que tu crees, your mother doesn’t deserve a vacation?, I work seven days a week and pick the both of you up from school and buy you new clothes and give you a haircut every two weeks and keep you smelling clean, not like those other ninos up the block, and stop metiendo te en todo, que tu crees, I don’t have all this money for you to be playing soccer and basketball and baseball and for you to be staying late at school, why do you keep staying so late at school, don’t you get tired of being there, I have practice and the school newspaper, no money mijo, all the artists are poor, just ask your father, do you want to end up like your father??, Junior pass me your backpack, we need to put Mami’s gifts in there, go find your brother, give me your passports, you both always lose everything, aquestate, ya te dije, we have to wake up early and I hate being in a rush in the airport, you’re the one who’s always late, y porque tu crees, I always need to make sure everything is ready, you expect too much from me Junior, even though I give you everything you need, everything you want, you always expect more and more, go ask your father to bring you on a vacation to a nice resort like this one, vas a tener suerte fria, do you understand what I’m saying, you’ll be lucky to get this in another life, go ask your friends, you think their parents do all of this for them??, Junior levantate, you need to go wake up your cousins so that they can be ready for the taxis, they’re always late, vete, go buy some platanitos for the plane and for your snacks for the first weeks of school, JUNIOR, YA TE DIJE, ME ESTAS PONIENDO NERVIOSA, if you tell me one more time about being stopped for having food at the airport, te vas a recordar de este momento, Junior, give me you and your brother’s backpack, this maleta is overweight, we need to move stuff around so we don’t get charged extra, always move the shoes, they weigh the heaviest, go find out what’s taking your cousins so long, ellos siempre están dormidos, I’m always in a rush when I’m with them, come on security is this way, can’t you read, what do I send you to that school for, cono, take off your shoes, don’t take off your belt, this happened last time, I had to go back, Junior did I raise you to talk back to me, he said I need to take my belt off, Dios mio, give me, da me, ma, the maleta is going the other way, it’s okay Junior, it’s the wet clothes, help your brother put on his shoes, make sure you don’t lose anything, this is exactly how your tio lost his wallet, what do you mean you can’t bring dulces, I’ve been flying for more than twenty years and no one ever told me that, yo pensaba que solamente era en Boston, I told you, Callate, this always happens, JUNIOR, no one ever listens to me and then –– , these dulces son para mi mama, she doesn’t fly anymore and hasn’t been home in over veinte anos, and for my brother who hasn’t gone back in a very long time and for my hairdresser, ella no tiene papeles, I already promised all of these to people, aye dios mio, gracias, thank you so much, dios te bendiga, you’re one of the few honest people left in my country, it is because of people like you this country hasn’t gone to complete shit, que pase buen dia, come on, we’ll miss our flight, I need my coffee, you see Junior, you should listen to your mother more, you stress too much.