CINCO HERMANITAS

The Pot: "Listen to me or I will make you marry a toad."

-a play on the multiple meanings of the word caso (pay attention and wed/marry)

Almost a year ago after our father left the house, never to be heard from again,  the long, miserable drought ended in Texas. The heavy summer rains had more than enchanted everyone; the days that followed has brought forth a most unexpected, spectacular surprise....

MARIPOSAS!

As for us, we tried staying indoors and playing Loteria like Mama instructed. It was difficult, however, because to play Loteria we needed a caller, un cantor, and Papa had always been ours. One day, however, right before he left, Papa made up a particular ominous riddle.

La Sirena, La mujer who wants to take your Papa away! No! We won't let her!

So it was no surprise that after he left, we lost interest in playing the game altogether. The summer of the mariposas, we abandoned our beloved Loteria for good, neglected our chores, and went completely wild. We cared for no one but each other, not even Mama.

Some days, we'd hike the hills beyond El Indio Highway, following the swarm of mariposas. With our chubby little sister, Pita, sitting precariously on the handlebars of my bike, we pedaled down to the river, rode through one of the large gaps in the eleven-foot border fence, and swam for hours in our secret calm pool.

                     1

La Calacera: "La calavera del muerto esta en su huerto."

The Skull: "The skull of the dead man is in this grove."

Holy shiitake mushrooms!

Holy shiitake mushrooms!

Get out! Get out! Get out!

Odilia! Let go of me!

Get out of the water! Now!

Okay! Fine. But I thought you were yelling at him.

Why would I be yelling at him? He's dead!

We should call someone.

The authorities.

The cops for sure.

The cops for sure.

No. We should call the border patrol. I bet they know what to do.

Guys, do you realize what this means?

What?

We're going to be on TV!

Mama is not going to like this. You know how she feels about talking to strangers.

Besides, we're in no condition to be put in front of a camera. Look at us. We look like bums.

STAINS AND RIPS
and leaves

Well, it's not like we'll have a choice. This is big.

This is more than big-this is huge.

This is more than big-this is huge.

Ginormous.

You think they'll get here that quickly?  Like right away? Can't we go home and change before we call them? I don't know about you, but I want to look my best for my first-ever television appearance.

No, we can't.

This isn't a movie set, and you're not starlets yet. This is about him, not us.

That's right. This is real life, and that's a real dead man in there. Whoever we call is going to want to interrogate us. The cops, the border patrol, everyone's going to want to know how and when and where we found him. And that's when the news people get involved.

But we're filthy. My shorts are ripped. See? We can't be seen on TV looking like this. What will people think?

They'll think we're poor, and that our father has abandoned us.

Do you think Papa will see us? On television? I hope we don't  embarrass him.

It'll be fine, here, let me fix your hair.

We don't know if he even watches the news, the truth is, we don't know much about him nowdays. Not where he's living, where his band is performing, or why he hasn't called or come home in almost a year.

Well if he does watch the news, he should be embarrassed, leaving without saying good-bye-I don't know why I'm even surprised.

Did you know that seventy percent of men aren't as attached to their female children as they are to their sons? It's true. I read that somewhere.

Can't you ever talk like a real person? I'm tired of listening to you quote stupid stuff!

If you two taradas are done arguing, we need to go home and change before going up to customs.

If you call me tarada ever again I'm gonna show you just how ignorant I am by kicking your behind all the way across the river.

Knock it off, what's wrong with you all? A man is dead in the river and all you can do is fight? We should be pulling him out and going to get help.

Or we could just lug him back out to the deep end, have the river carry him further away, then call someone.

I think pushing him out there is a good idea, so who's going to help me here and who's going up to customs to report this? Remember the rule of the five little sisters-cinco hermanitas, together forever, no matter what! No one's allowed  to go off on their own, so we'll travel in packs. Delia? Velia? What are you two doing and who is going with you?

Now hold on, we're not calling anyone. We can't turn him in to the migra. They'll throw him in a hole somewhere and forget all about him. 

They throw them in a hole? Why?

They don't treat them like animals. They bury them.

Maybe we should just let them do that, I'd rather not touch a dead body if I don't have to.

Hello? Those customs agents are ruthless! To them illegals are no better than stray dogs. They'd shoot them before they'd help them.

You're so full of it, customs agents are government workers. They have to take care of the bodies they find.

Shows how much you know.

And what makes you such an expert? One of those stupid books you read all night. No, wait. You were just born knowing it all. Sorry. I forgot.

I'm scared.

Shut up. We don't have time for crybabies.

I'm telling Mama!

No you're not, you little snitch, we're not telling anyone anything. We're going to do the right thing.

And what's that?  What is the right thing, Juanita?

I'm not touching that.

Him. You're not touching him, he's a human being, even if he's dead. Now help me pull him out. Pita, you go sit over there if you can't handle it.

We should call the authorities, Juanita, I don't think we should pull him  in. No telling how long he's been dead.

What? I'm not helping her. She's crazy. Always has been.

I'm not crazy. I'm compassionate. No I'm more than compassionate; I'm...considerate.

He's heavy.

eek!

eek!

He hasn't been dead very long, see, no rigamorphus.

Rigor mortis, you still have some work to do on those dictionary skills.

Whatever, I think he just drowned, like a few hours ago. He doesn't smell and he's not swollen.

Drowned? What do you know about drowning?

Hello. I watch Crime Dawgs. It's like my favorite show.

Besides, it's obvious  he drowned. There no other signs of trauma, no bullets, nothing. See?

We should really go up to customs an get some help.

I wonder where he came from. If he has a family...do they know where he went? Did he tell them?

He must have.

Papa didn't.

Duh.

We should take off his clothes, let him dry out before he starts to grow fungus or something.

Gross! I'm not doing that!

Gross! I'm not doing that!

We should leave him just the way we found him.

We should have left him in the water, babas.

Watch your mouth!

Sorry.

Money.

Look at this. Hundreds, fifties, twenties.

He was rich.

There's a wallet, with an address. His name is Gabriel Perdido. He's from El Sacrificio, across the border.

We have to turn it all in-the wallet, the money, everything.

We can't do that to him.

We don't even know this guy, so stop acting like we owe him anything.

He's probably got a wife and kids, and they're worried about him. And right now they're wondering what he's doing, if he made it across all right.

We don't know that. Look. His driver's license expired six years ago. He probably doesnt even live there anymore. truth is, we don't know who is or what he does, or even if he has a family.

He has a family!

Wahhh!

He has a family and a home and a life, we can't just leave him here. We've got to find a way to take him back to his family.

El Sacrificio?

Hey,isn't that close to...

Where Papa is from?

We can't go to El Sacrificio.

Why not?

Why not?

Abuelita Remedios still lives near El Sacrificio.

We can't go to El Sacrificio.

Why not?

I'd like to see Abuelita Remedios again.

We can't.

Look. It's been years since we last went to Hacienda Dorada. I'd like to see Abuelia again too, experts agree children need to be close to their grandparents. It makes them feel secure, and when they grow up feeling loved they make better parents themselves.

That's a bunch of horseradish! I'm never becoming a parent.

We can't go because...

Because why? Give me one good reason.

Because it's all the way in friggin' Mexico, that's why!

Don't you see? There's reason we found him instead of the border patrol. He came looking for us because he knew we could help him. It's not a coincidence that he's from the same place as Papa.

What are you talking about? You're not making any sense.

Don't you get it? We were ment to find him, so we could go see our abuelita in Mexico again. It was fate that brought him to us.

Do you even know what you're considering?

I know it's going to be hard, but if this man's family is ever going to see him again, we're going to have to be the ones to take him back. And maybe while we're in El Sacrificio, we can find out...

If Abuelita Remedios knows what's happened to Papa?

What is it?

Nothing, let's get out of here. It's getting dark.

CHAPTER 2

El Pajaro: "Pajaro, pajarito, encantanos con tu canto bonito."

The Bird: "Bird, little birdie, enchant us with your pretty song."

We can cross the border at dawn, pretend we're going on vacation with our father, once we're through the checkpoints, we can drive straight to El Sacrificio.

Excuse me, and how are we going to do that? Are you going to call your fairy godmother and ask her to turn a watermelon into a chariot? Because I don't know about you, but I left my magic beans in my other shorts.

¡Callate! I'm not stupid, so you can stop acting that way.

It's not like we're broke, we have money now.

You took his money? I can't believe you stole from a dead man.

It doesn't belong to us. We can't just take it.

We can if it's for a good cause, we're not using it to buy ourselves stuff. It's not like we're really taking a vacation. we're using it to take him home.

Well, technically, we will be using it on ourselves, because hes dead.

Okay, so how are we gonna get there? Do you even know where your going?

We can take Papa's old car. There's an old map of Coahuila in the glove box.                    

That car's a lemon.

It's worse than a lemon.

That car's a pile of junk, Juanita, not even a dung beetle would want to push that old ball of caca around, much less hold on to it. Mama should have sold it a long time ago.

Bought us some new school clothes or something.

See? You can't even agree on how to get there.

Well, we're going. You can join us, like a good big sister, cinco hermanitas, together forever-or you can break our motto and stay behind like a coward.

That's insane.

Listen, if you don't take us Juanita is willing to drive.

Don't be ridiculous, Juanita wouldn't know how to find a gas pedal if it has a rattle on its tail. At least I have a driving permit. Let's just go home for now. Let's just go home for now. The right thing to do will come to us.

Blah-blah-blah

Yak yak yak

Welfare burgers

1. Sliced white bread

2. burgers

.sigh. (burger buns are too expensive)

I wish I had some mayo:(

Dinner's on the table. You need to eat to keep your strength up for that long drive.

Do you think we'll need sweaters?

It's the middle of the canicula, why would you need a sweater during the hottest part of summer?

It gets cold in the desert.