“I know it’s not the best ‘look’ for you, but it’s important,” he said he told them, about half of whom had clearly taken off their masks, and paid no mind to the warnings.
I also saw that the little brats were being commuted by their parents as primary schools reopened the following day. Parents expressed alleviation that their brats, cloistered for so long in their homes, could be corralled back into their classrooms. But they also fretted that the illness could strike back once all the less than hygienically minded youngsters gathered in one place again. So, yes, they were afraid again. They all knew they’d have to go back and did not want to, but even in such a charming town like Manzanillo things had to get back to normal. Parents with their progeny were all about town with their masks on. In a tiny roasted-chicken restaurant I patronized, the owners were obviously having a good time with the epidemic as they displayed their raw chickens or dolls of them wearing surgical masks. Frankly, I thought they took the appropriate attitude; so what if a few people die of the flu, more people die from hunger or exposure to the elements in and around those parts anyway!
According to the newspapers and blogs, working parents have fought constantly to provide child care during the curfew. The struggle forced many to avoid work while they sought solutions, or they took their offspring to their jobs, or sent them to the movies or to go bother their grand-parents ~ Anything to alleviate the tension.
Corazon confessed that she had to leave her children behind un-supervised while she took care of Andres, which was no hardship on them. Teenagers will find things to do in the absence of supervision!
“I’m nervous about them going back to school on Monday.” She complained. “But they will wear a mask, and I have instructed them to stay away from their common, dirtier class-mates who appear sick.”
Beyond that, they would be on their own. Lord have mercy!
Outside of their high school in Chapultepec, she went on to explain, nurses stood ready to hand out surgical masks, antiseptic gel, sheets of paper with sanitary recommendations and a health questionnaire. Most students just marched right on past her, Corazon complained, including her children. And, she went on to say, many teachers draped their masks around their necks with an air of sans souci. This really irked Corazon as she cleaned up after Andres.
“If they come to ask for information,” I answered her, “I’d ask them some serious questions.” (she agreed).
Meanwhile, most commercial establishments in Colima had installed antiseptic gel dispensers, and increased shifts for cleaning crews. The local officials had also created an online manual, “What to do to restart classes without risk?” The silly thing called for parents and scholastic workers to wash down classrooms, cafeterias and other areas with water, soap and chlorine, and to provide running water for hand-washing. Of course, nobody read it.
Each business or office building, the bigwigs cried, had to be thoroughly scrubbed and inspected that very week. This porcine flu supposedly has a long incubation period of five to seven days before people begin to feel the symptoms. Basically this meant the virus could be spread around by unsanitary persons who just wouldn’t stay at home if their lives depended on it, so it was urgent that they get busy with the washing. Complicating the task, however, was the fact that many schools are primitive buildings with dirt floors and lack proper bathrooms. It was reprehensible how students attending those schools could stick to their government’s strictures.
In order to gain posture with the voters, so said the pundits, political hacks promised detergent, chlorine, trash bags, anti-bacterial soap or antiseptic gel and face masks to the locals for delivery to commercial and public places. Some local districts, even in a state covered with municipalities, apparently didn’t get the word.
Mexico’s public education department stipulates that students must accomplish the annual requirement of 800 hours in class, but did not say if the term would be extended because of the shutdown. This last bit of news fell on Corazon’s children like a ton of bricks.
Officials in other states were no longer recommending that schools shut down because of suspected pig flu cases since the latest virus scare had turned out to be milder than initially reported. But, many Mexican schools had done so out of fear of the unexpected.
Things around the borders of each state had gotten so bad in fact that just trying to transport a refrigerator, for example, into Colima from Jalisco in the back of a pickup truck became near impossible, and would be seized by state officials. On the other hand, stick a couple of AK-47 rifles in your trunk, as Andres joked before I left the capital, and chances are you’ll fly through every border crossing. Whether or not Mexico was owning up to its porous border as it commenced a new plan to watch for suspicious vehicles entering the country, the aim thereof was to measure and interdict cars and trucks bound for known illegal drug-distribution centers in hopes of snaring the surreptitious and slippery smugglers.
More inconveniences, more side-tracking, more frustrations. What could I do but bear it all. On the beaches of lovely Manzanillo I almost did bare it all if only to defy the stupid flu. Other tourists seemed to have the same thing in mind, and many lovely bare figures sauntered and sashayed on passed me. It was quite obvious that they worried not for the silly old cooties!
And yet, I was melancholy over this thing with Andres. He is a thoroughly good fellow, and if he does not recover, I too would be devastated.
DOMESTIC TROUBLES
July was giving out, the summer rains were descending across the heartland, stifling heat made it nearly impossible to get a decent night’s sleep, other Summer Festivals only intensified the pervasive sense of frustration with the state of society as it was, and August heralded very few surprises or prospects for a return to an already defunct state of normalcy. A few days of exploring Colima had come and gone, and I began to prepare for the next leg of the journey before sauntering on over to the nearest station and hopping on the first bus bound for Jalisco. I had been referred to a contact named Felipe Ramayo Arias by the friend of a distant cousin, who not only hailed from Tepatitlan, but knew some relatives of mine I had never met. If I could succeed in introducing myself to them, perhaps they could lead me closer to my goal.
In the meantime, I had received some harried calls and text messages from Corazon. She reported that Andres’s condition was not improving but had been stabilized. She had also forwarded messages she exchanged with, of all people, Becky. Somehow Corazon had managed it, but the correspondence also reflected Becky’s need to have her situation known to sympathetic supporters. It concerned her deteriorating relationship with her ex-husband, Enrique Alvarez. It turned out the ol’ boy had unleashed his spurious resentments on her, and by doing so suffocated the righteousness right out of his moral contention. In a written letter dated one month before, he rebuked:
~ I know that Campanita is very unhappy to see me. Every time she comes from spending time with you, she is always very upset and unhappy, malnutrida, mugrosa, piojosa y está bien pendeja en la escuela (malnourished, dirty, flea-bitten, and is very stupid in school), or so you say. I think it’s better if she has the good influence that her mother can provide by not having her around fricking Cholo (Chicano gangsters) losers, while watching Cholo movies. I’m a loser dad, I admit it, since I failed with your chiquillos (little ones), oh, and you are such an example to all mothers by raising fricking loser Cholos. You are sure to be commended for that.
You and I have different perspectives, priorities, beliefs and views on or about life, especially when it comes to raising children.
Please stop attacking and insulting me every time you can, especially in front of Campanita, and do not preach to me how I should raise my daughter! Also, you cannot set the rules of the custody/visitation of my own daughter. If you have her one week, I should have her one week. When you have her, you can take her to school, pick her up and interact all you want with her. I’ll do the same when she is with me. You can always go to her karate clas
s when she is with me, and vice-versa.
I’m sick and tired of fighting with a bitch, that’s why I’d rather avoid you. You don’t have to be nice to me, just don’t talk to me. You know exactly how I feel about you!
I regret haberte recogido (having picked you up e.g. from the gutter)
Enrique ~
“What do you think of this?” Corazon then asked me.
“Unbelievable,” I thought, and yet it was so very believable. This is just the kind of bullshit Becky, Corazon and I would hear from time to time from psycho-emotional drug abusers. Some people, in this case men, really give the rest of us a bad name.
“So, he thinks he has rights?” Corazon asked of her. “He needs to be reminded that he does not live in the Mexico of his grand-father when men had dominion over their families. This is a new Mexico, sister! He needs to be reminded that as soon as it involves litigation he will see just how many rights he has.”
I wanted to know who these “loser cholos” were he was talking about? Becky’s own sons? And then the big phony doesn’t want Becky to attack, or to insult him in front of Campanita?
As far as I would evaluate his motives and considerations, this boy is a pathetic, lugubrious, rancorous flea of a frustrated Chilango! He cannot win, I replied to Corazon. He is quite obviously boiling in his own juices. For that, Becky should cry victory! Now he is suffering from the same medicine he served her for so many years. Now he is burning with regret, anger and a sense of betrayal and helplessness. He must really be consuming himself in his own bile to have worked up enough gumption to write her that pathetic email. And just what the Hell did he mean by: she is alway very upset and unhappy, malnutrida, mugrosa, piojosa y está bien pendeja ... ?
Is this the line he will use to accuse Becky before his lawyer?
Be careful! I’d tell Becky. This is exactly what a LOSER ex-husband and abuser will say to try and take the child from her arms. And, then to accuse her of bringing up “loser” cholos as sons is just another ploy for his court case. No, she must have her own children testify against him, it’s the only way. I think even his own mother and brother will turn against him.
Corazon whimsically texted her: ~ Hijo le, pero que pendejo Enrique is! Becky, you have both my sympathy for going through this stressful bullshit, and my congratulations for having struck a blow for freedom against despots and imbecilic morons! And this is the most galling point of all: I regret haberte recogido ...
What a bastard! ~
Becky’s reply was concise:
~ I was going to respond, but I decided not to at the last moment. I am sure he wants a reaction out of me, and not getting any is going to make him wonder what I am feeling. ¿Como ves?
Becky ~
Corazon then brought up the subject of how they’d met and got together in the first place. Becky, pensive as always, replied:
~ I know, considering that he just moved in with me, without asking me, makes one wonder what was going on in my mind when I permitted this. He just landed and started spending nights in my home. I wrote him a letter telling how I liked him, but didn’t like the situation; he got offended but never left. I felt sorry for his ass because he had just lost his job. Asi que el mendigo recogido es el (so the mendicant who was plucked from the gutter was him).
After I’d received that bitter letter from him, I answered him right back: “Enrique, You know it is not my habit to offend you or call you names. DO know that I have begun the process of freeing myself of your vengeful influence. I have also stopped fearing you like I did. For ten years you were the one who controlled, screamed, belittled, abused me, emotionally and physically, and my children; who by the way were only five and three years old when I met you. Know that if you scream at my daughter or me again, I will always ask you to speak to us with respect. That was all said to you last night, and I repeat: next time you demand something from me screaming and disrespectfully, I WILL ignore you.
1. I am sorry if asking you to consider our daughter’s needs sounds to you like preaching. I do not mean to disrespect you. My requests are simple and are as follows:
2. I ask that you bring Campanita back from Karate classes no later than 9:30 pm. every Tuesday and Wednesday. Her classes end at 9 pm. and we live only five minutes away from the YMCA. It is not healthy for her to come home at close to 10 pm. She has to eat supper and do homework.
3. My only request to you is that you be considerate and pay attention to these things that hinder our daughters health; it is not good that she ends up going to bed at 11 pm.
4. I believe that six karate classes a week for a seven year old girl is too much, but I have said nothing to you in this regard because I know how much you enjoy these activities with her.
5. I know she likes it too, but I also want her to do well in school. She has fallen behind in her reading, math and has no time to play with her friends from Monday to Thursday when she is very busy doing and practicing karate with you.
6. I set up play-dates and fun days for her because playing with girls her age and doing creative activities are good for her emotional, social and intellectual development; it is not to sabotage your time with her like you accused me of the other day. I always offer the option that if she has an activity like this you are more than welcome to take her, which you have always refused like the field trip to the museum last Monday and the play date last week.
7. I am sure the activities I’d set up for her are a lot healthier than being locked up in your apartment, in your bedroom with easily accessible pornographic material and DVD’s that you have under the TV, where she spends most of her time, watching TV most of the day when she is with you.
8. I don’t think it’s good for her either that she goes to your neighbor’s apartment where there are two grungy male adults that smoke marijuana and a thirteen year old boy who has nothing in common with our seven year old daughter. Up until now, this issue has bothered me a lot, but I have said nothing because I know how defensive and verbally abusive you get, and most importantly I want to trust your good fatherly judgment and intuition that you will be alert to any perverse situation that may arise.
9. When we first separated, we vowed that we were going to do everything in our power to make Campanita’s life a happy one. We had agreed that on school days she would sleep with me so that it will be easier for her. You recognized the fact that I am more patient and can understand her needs when it comes to dressing appropriately for school, and the fact that I have a bedroom perfectly set up for a little girl.
10. We agreed that the ideal schedule for keeping her best interest in mind would be as follows:
11. On school days - Monday through Friday she sleeps with me, either I take her to school or you do. (Based on your recent request, I can take her to school and you can pick her up.)
12. Every other weekend starting Friday after school we each keep her until Sunday morning, let’s say at noon or so.
13. At vacation time we each keep her half of the time.
14. On holidays we alternate - one holiday with me, and one holiday with you, each.
15. I beg of you not to forget that we are both very important to her, and also beg of you to think about her well being. We have gotten into ‘fights’ or disagreements over who keeps the tennis shoes or the uniform for the week. Please! This is ridiculous. Let’s keep the agreement we had, for our daughter’s sake; not yours, not mine, only hers.
16. Here in my house she has a suitable bedroom with play-space and toys, appropriate
17. Colors for her age and gender, friends and neighbors her own age with whom she loves spending time. She has two brothers, especially one that she loves with all her heart and has been (ever since she can pronounce the words) what she always calls…‘her bestest friend’
18. Please put your bitterness aside and think about your daughter’s well-being and happiness. You know perfectly well she does not like sleeping with you because she has no friends. You don’t understand her dressing nee
ds, you can’t do her hair, you snore and she can’t sleep, you scream for no good reason, you smoke at least a pack of cigarettes per day or marijuana, you have pornography all over your place, and that makes her very uncomfortable.
19. I am very sorry I have left nothing but resentment in your heart; I hope one day all these resentments and rebukes will pass and you find it in your heart to forgive me. I have forgiven you and want nothing but good vibes amongst us.”
... And all this during one day in the life of a solitary Mexican household! I honestly could not see how either Becky or Corazon could endure so many inconveniences. I tried to reply to Becky, but for some damned reason Corazon was unable to transmit the message. Damn! In it I took exception, and offered my own thoughts regarding her state of affairs with Enrique:
~ Becky, to begin with, while reading your reply to Enrique I was reminded of what historian Edward Gibbons wrote about the Romans and Barbarians (and by extension The astonished Aztecs against the fanatical Spanish Conquistadors, or you and Enrique): between equally civilized enemies, the sacrifice and courage of one will bring out the admiration and respect of the other.
But, if one enemy is civilized and the other is savage, then any show of honor, nobility and chivalry by the civilized one will only provoke greater fury, hatred and blood-lust in the savage.
Well, Becky, your reply to Enrique was very well redacted, respectful, reflective, reasonable and more than rewarding. However, Enrique, I am sorry to judge him thus, is NOT a civilized enemy. He really is the savage who will fume, fuss, fulminate and become furious with your show of nobility. If this is what you want out of him, alright then, screw him! But, if you are really extending the olive branch of peace to him, I, for one, very much doubt he will correspond by releasing the dove of concord.
I would recommend you send it to him NOT for any real desire on your part to make him happy, BUT as a ploy to show the LAW that you tried your best till the last moment, but he was just a beast and could not be reasoned with. This reply should be for your lawyer’s benefit more than anything.
A Wetback in Reverse Page 25
