The Lacsa plane carried hundreds of Costa Ricans for the Christmas holidays and people were cheerful and eager to see their families. The trip felt endless; when we finally landed, the others applauded. “Don’t cry,” the woman next to me said, “we’re already in San Jose.” The woman thought I was crying out of joy.
I arrived and my mother was in her room. I entered and hugged her for several minutes.
“How are you?” I said, crying. I noticed she still had a bandage where her right breast had been. Later she would tell me that she had put it on herself in the hospital.
Elena, who had resumed her studies, had doubts about leaving so soon; she was studying at the school for senior students and wanted to continue in college.
I convinced her to call her teachers and ask for permission, just as I had done.
When crises like these come, you go into autopi-lot. I had to pick up lab tests, make reservations, buy tickets, get travel permits, buy dollars, get medica-tion, take X-rays, get biopsy samples, and leave for California. I didn’t leave out any details.
That night, I went to pick up my passport that I had left at the store. Although it was late, my father was there because I saw the light in the bathroom; I knocked on the door and there was no response; I did it again and again, nothing. I started banging on the window and finally the man came out of the bathroom; he was zipping up his pants. The female 161
employee followed him. So, my mother had cancer and my father was fooling around in the bathroom.
I called Ted.
“Can you believe that, in the midst of this chaos, I go to the store and find dad with the employee sucking his dick? And to make matters worse, I’m going to California. My sister is incapable of taking care of herself. I anticipate the worst.”
I was not well; I knew nothing about cancer, let alone the treatments that awaited us. While I was learning about the side effects, I took my mother to the hospital.
One night, we went to the opera. On the way back, the car started to fail in the middle of the road between San Francisco and Santa Rosa. But we had had a confrontation with Azuzena, who was supposed to pick us up. Derek said her new lover does not want to see you and that I should hitchhike.”
At one o’clock in the morning, in one of the most deserted and dangerous roads in California and also in the middle of a storm, a man in his fifties stopped.
I told him I was heading to Santa Rosa and asked if he could give me a ride; he said yes, he was going to San Rafael. I could spend the night there and take a bus in the morning. I glanced at him and didn’t notice anything strange; the man was sturdy, but he looked respectable.
When we arrived at his home, the guy changed completely and told me he wanted to have sex. If I 162
hadn’t found him repulsive, I would have done it out of gratitude. I tried to tell him subtly that no, but it was impossible. He pulled out a revolver and put it to my head.
When I finally arrived at the hotel, Elena was desperate.
“It’s nothing, Mom, don’t worry. I got a ride, slept in San Rafael, and came here today. It was nothing”. The two weeks passed and finally, we were able to return to Costa Rica.