Betrayal and Acrimony

January 12, 2021January 12, 2021

Melancolia de mi Vida

Santiago drinks in excess to numb himself, to forget the pain. Sometimes, while in a drunken stupor memories of his childhood abuse sober him up. He has long forgiven his mother, although the pain lingers. Disdain and lack of compassion were his reality. Santiago felt his mother hated him more than she could ever love him, and punishing him is how she felt alive. She was enamored with being the center of attention. She would conspire against family members and fabricate tales. As the family matriarch, she was revered. Her influence was such that everyone took her word as gospel. Any family member she could not control, she would influence others to turn against them and a witch hunt would ensue. Habitually, she manufactured faults within her daughters-in-law. Genova was in constant competition with wives, mistresses, and girlfriends. There was solely one mistress who she never dared utter a word. Raisa was a drug queen pin and everyone knew she was just as ruthless as she was cool. Raisa was the lover of Genova’s playboy son, Rafa. Rafa had a wife, four young sons, and a string of women, one prettier than the next. Raisa never bothered Rafa’s wife, she respected her, everyone else was fair game. Raisa would have Rafa followed, show up unannounced and find him in compromised situations. She would smack him and call him a come mielda. Rafa feared her, he was keenly aware Raisa carried a gun at all times.

January 4, 2021January 4, 2021

Beautifully Flawed

Despite Pauly’s parents’ reservations about Xiomara, he asked for her hand in marriage. His parents wanted someone with similar values, someone like them. Upon becoming engaged Pauly and Xiomara decided to remain abstinent until their wedding nite. The engagement was an elaborate affair with a seven-course dinner. Given Pauly’s deeply rooted pious upbringing, they agreed on a catholic church, requiring a marriage preparation program. The focus of the program is developing a sacramental marriage that will last a lifetime. Thereafter, the wedding reception was held at a very coveted establishment with two hundred and fifty of their closest friends. While in Hawaii, on their honeymoon Xiomara discovered she was pregnant. Xiomara was certain the child wasn’t Pauly’s given they had not been intimate in months. Throughout the honeymoon, she feigned being sick as a means of not consummating the marriage. Upon returning from the honeymoon, Xiomara confided in her parents about the pregnancy. Xiomara’s mother Dona Elsa provided two options (1) terminate the pregnancy or (2) lie about who the father is. After much deliberation, Xiomara told Pauly the truth, and the marriage was annulled.

December 28, 2020December 30, 2020

Something to declare

Santiago was the firstborn of eight children to an extremely toxic mother. She debased, beat, terrorized, and ridiculed her sons daily. Santiago grew up to be just as narcissistic as his mother. Like his mother, by the age of eighteen, Santiago had three children, born in the same year, by three different women. He has eleven children with seven different women, while solely financially providing for his youngest two children. Every other child never received any monetary or emotional support. His older children envied the youngest two, given they are the ones he had a vested interest in. Fiscally, Santiago did very well for himself however, he began to lose his fortune due to the drinking. Indiscretions were rampant in the marriage. Physical abuse of his wife was a staple and how he maintained total control. Santiago’s affaire with the bottle superseded all things. When he tired of running the streets and returned home, no one was spared of his vitriolic nature. The years of abuse manifested in excessive weight gain in his wife. She had gastric bypass surgery as a means of reinventing herself. While home recovering from the surgery, Santiago beats her, fearing she may finally leave. His youngest daughter is effortlessly striking, coquette. As she walks down the street, there is no shortage, in the awe of men. Habitually, Valentina was debased, ridiculed, and terrorized by the man responsible for loving and protecting her. No wonder, She lacks any motivation beyond being a kept woman even if it means grave degradation. Her lifestyle may seem foreign to many although this is how Valentina was groomed. Santiago projected the hollowness he felt within onto his daughter and she believed him.

December 21, 2020

Collateral damage of the immigrant

Fara’s parents informed her, she was solely going to Haiti for summer vacation. Fast forward two months and Fara is being fitted for school uniforms, that is how Fara realized she was not returning to Brooklyn. This event forever changed Fara’s outlook on life. While in Haiti, Fara resided with an auntie who treated her well. Fara never wanted for material things, rather she grappled with feelings of abandonment which were elusive to articulate, as a seven-year-old. Friendships in her life tended to be seasonal. She never allowed anyone to become too close for fear of things ending. The slightest infraction in a friendship or relationship is grounds for ending the alliance. Fara is hypervigilant about protecting herself. During winter and summer breaks Fara returned to Brooklyn and was reunited with her family. Fara’s older siblings lost themselves with the wrong crowd. As a consequence, Fara’s parents reasoned sending her to Haiti would allow her to be raised in a different environment, as well as foster a fresh mindset, and it worked. Between the ages of seven and thirteen Fara resided in Haiti. Once her parents decided to bring Fara back to Brooklyn permanently, irreparable damage had ensued. Fara was riddled with resentment toward her mother. It took years for her mother to grasp the gravity of Fara’s feelings of being disenfranchised.

December 14, 2020December 24, 2020

Laborinto de mi Vida

On a cold winter nite, December 21st, 1957, Genova arrived in New York City from La Republica Dominicana. Thirty-two years old and with just enough money to rent a furnished room in the upper west side. In the ’60s the upper west side was a far cry from what it is today. No command of the English language, “una mano atras y otra alante” as said in Spanish, “not a pot to pee in.” What Genova lacked in financial resources, she overcompensated with gumption. Getting acclimated to American culture was quite jarring coming from a culture in which everyone knows their neighbors, and customarily treated with warmth, dignity, and seen. Genova was consumed by upward mobility. The first task was securing the resources to purchase a house back home, so all six of her children can once again live together under one roof. Within three years the mission was accomplished. Although her children were keenly aware of their mothers’ sacrifices, being apart weighed heavily on them. Having graduated from the third grade, Genova was relegated to working in factories as a seamstress, potato peeler, kitchen of restaurants to name a few. With savings from multiple jobs, she moved into a five-bedroom apartment in Sugar Hill, Harlem. She rented the bedrooms to other newly arrived immigrants, which paid her rent and provided surplus. Genova offered cooking services to the boarders for an additional fee. Aside from boarders, cooking services, she provided baby-sitting services as well. As a child, she would tell adults premonitions despite her pious mother frowning on this gift. While in Harlem far away from her mother’s disapproval, she visited a local botanica and purchased a deck of tarot cards and taught herself how to read the cards. She has always been intrinsically connected to her sixth sense. Once she started providing tarot services business soared. People learned of her through word of mouth. Walking into her living room closely resembled a waiting room in a doctor’s office. Well-heeled individuals, from all walks of life, ranging from a journalist, wife of a physician, big-time drug dealers, and countless others as repeat customers. Genova even had customers who spoke no Spanish and had friends translate readings, as customers kept notes in a journal. She had customers calling from as far as Peru for readings. Genova also prepared Banos’ when clients required spiritual cleansing. Banos’ consisted of various hojas among other ingredients. Banos’ ranged in price between $100 and $200, the business was fruitful. Working incessantly, numerous side hustles, living below her means, she managed to purchase additional homes in La Republic Dominicana, as rental properties. Single handed securing visas and permanent residency for all six of her children to join her in America.

December 7, 2020April 9, 2021

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT

Leonora looked like the stereotypical Latina. Waist-length curly hair, hourglass figure, inherited from the ancestors. Beautiful smile, all-around a looker. A very personable and sweet girl. A ton of fun to be around. Leonora recently completed her master’s in nursing, single, and living her very best life. Leonora was 27 and beginning to feel the pressures of not being engaged or married unlike many of her sorority sisters. Leonora had a lover, whom she worshipped and delighted in his nectar. She and her lover were involved well beyond the expiration date of the average affair. Her lover would call her late into the night when he was certain his wife was asleep and they would speak for hours. Leonora’s family was entirely against the relationship given Mateo was married although keeping appearances superseded how they felt about him. There was nothing Leonora’s family could do to sway her into ending things with her lover. The constant familial scrutiny only compelled her to keep the relationship a secret and pretend it was over. Leonora met Solano through her childhood friend. Solano had done exceptionally well for himself in investment banking and by all appearances had quite the future ahead of him and was ready for marriage. Upon meeting Leonora, Solano was immediately smitten, within six months they were engaged. Throughout the courtship, Leonora maintained allegiance to Solano. A wedding was planned while no attention to detail was spared. The wedding was scheduled at a cathedral with a year-long waitlist. The veil alone was 100 feet long. Two hundred and fifty guests confirmed. White Beach, Boracay Aklan, Philippines was confirmed as the honeymoon destination. The evening before the nuptials, Leonora was nowhere to be found. She had decided to spend the evening with her lover.

November 2, 2020

Love via a Green Card..

Monica and Oko met on an online dating website. Oko seemed quiet, reserved, and pleasant, not Monica’s usual type. They made arrangements to meet up. Throughout the courtship, Monica was treated well. As things got serious in the relationship, finances were discussed and Monica learns of Oko’s migratory status in the country. Monica is established, unlike Oko, working under the table and living in the country illegally although a very hard worker. Monica agrees to marry Oko and hires an attorney to help resolve his immigration status. Within 90 days of being married Oko has temporary working papers. By all standards, the marriage was successful. Oko obtains a college degree in record time and quickly works his way up the corporate ladder. All financial responsibilities within the household were handled by Oko. Oko ensured Monica was provided for. By all accounts, Monica was happy, she kept it sexy while adhering to all her wifely duties. On the very day, Oko received his permanent green card, which was five years into the marriage, everything shifted. Oko would now pick and choose which bills he was going to pay. Going out to dinner, as well as outings now became a chore and deemed frivolous, by Oko. He would not come home for days and when he returned the indifference was palpable. The nuances of the marriage dissipated. Initially, Monica felt she was the reason everything changed although could not quite understand why. Months went by before Monica confronted Oko about the break within the marriage. Oko’s instinctive reply, I did not marry you for a green card. That’s when Monica realized it was all a labyrinth. She was solely Oko’s come up. She paved the way for his upward mobility. Monica understood why someone would go to such great lengths however had there been any transparency she would have happily agreed to marry for monetary compensation instead of heartache.