Those Who Left Me For Dead

Some things don't need explaining

The following morning I decided to riot.

I was incensed how could I be punished for stopping a crime? whilst the actual criminal was rewarded and hadn't my abuela claimed the arepas were free?

Why was she selling food now as if we were poor?!. My parents were rich, my dad was a businessman and in San Juan we owned a beautiful large townhouse, In San Juan i went to a private school.

I didn't want to stay in Carolina anymore if my abuela was a food staller, the other kids would make fun of me and think we were also poor like other street sellers, i had a feeling i knew our lives were quite different here but not in such an extreme case.

We lived in a modest but beautiful house here in Carolina, our house in San Juan was very huge, I had my own room there I didn't have to sleep in the same bed with Andrea who snored and farted in her sleep, in San Juan the school i went to was more nicer and bigger than the one in Carolina and our parents always gave us pocket money for school

Our abuela didnt she only gave us arepas stuff with mixed vegetables and mince which sometimes gave me a runny stomach not to mention the oil of it made my clothes greasy and dirty.

If my parents knew the food my abuela gave us they would be furious and i couldn't wait to tell my father that my abuela was selling food on the streets too, I knew my father would be furious about it too and I realized suddenly that I so was tired of not seeing my parents.

I loved Carolina and loved my abuela but it had been months now and I was sick and tired of missing them especially since neither of them seemed to call. I made up my mind I was going to boycott school until my parents returned.

My grandmother would have no chose but to tell them to come because I was misbehaving, until I got my old room back with my many toys and clothes, until my grandmother apologized to me for treating that street kid who was a thief with mercy and scolding me instead, until my grandmother told me why she lied about the arepas.

The lie about the arepas seemed to be the most painful, I took it as a betrayal and couldn't wait to give her hell for it. I trusted my abuela more than i trusted my parents and loved her more than i did them, i think my hurt was more rooted at the point that she had proven to me that adults can lie and expect children not to question them.

I promised myself to question her and hold her accountable, first i needed to roit when she gave me a reaction i would than challenge her.

When Andrea rose up and prepared for school I stayed in bed, wide awake, my eyes opened looking at the ceiling my arms folded, she looked at me solemnly and got out of bed.

Andrea for all her childish ways was a very intelligent child who knew how to read the room, whenever things were intense at home she always kept to herself and avoided getting caught in the crossfire yet when it was anything else she was lively and loud thats why i found it hard not to get along with her.

She was such a dear but i was angry now and it was because of abuela. Whilst Andrea prepared for school i waited.

I wanted my grandmother to come and scold me again but when she finally came to check on us, she saw that Andrea had risen up but I was still in bed I waited for her explosive reprimand but instead she asked me softly to get out of bed and prepare for school.

I refused to my suprise she let me be, this was not the reaction I was hoping for, when people let you do as you pleased it meant you were in the right I thought, so whilst she dressed Andrea I got out of bed and asked her

"can adults lie?"

She seemed to have anticipated the question to which she replied "yes if needs be" a very so and so response "why is that?" I asked again folding my arms, my green kiddies pyjama's made me look like a small man a midget.

As if reading my mind and knowing where this was going she looked at me warily and for the first time I noticed how old she looked, the red eyes that were swollen as if she had cried for many nights.

The deep lines on her face, the once bright brown eyes clouding up and turning grey as a sign of impending blindness or short sightedness, the thinned lips that house crooked and decaying teeth...

The once beautiful olive skin now darkening and turning brown with multiple spots and blemishes on her face and neck, her loose fitted clothes she looked like a very sorry sight and i just felt defeated and unable to fight her even more...

Life and aging had dealt her fair share of cruel blows, she replied plainly "some things don't need explaining", I didn't want to take the discussion further and I didn't want to ask about the arepas infront of Andrea lest she tells her friends at school in her childish girlish manner that her grandmother sold arepas.

I would be bullied and mobbed mercilessly at school, even a pound to pound fighter like me couldn't handle that, also I decided to end my riot earlier than expected since it wasn't having much of a positive effect on her or me.

Whilst my grandmother and Andrea ate breakfast I washed quickly and prepared for school, when it was time to go i hurriedly to the door just as i heard my grandmother leaving seeing me all dressed up and nicely combed my grandmother said "I thought you weren't going to school, what changed?" she asked this as she opened the door to leave with Andrea.

Her freshly made arepas inside the two buckets piled ontop of each bucket besides her feet, the aromatic smell of freshly done arepas enticing my taste buds...

I remembered I didn't have breakfast, I opened one of the buckets took out two hot arepas and bit it one hard and began chewing heartily the delicious contents nourished my body and filled my stomach with warmth and contentment before replying to her question

"some things don't need explaining"

I said taking a que out of her earlier words and then going out, I saw from the corner of my eye my grandmother smiling proudly, I wasn't sure if it was what I said or the fact that I let go of my riot.

We went to school as usual without conflict or incident, she left us halfway waited to see other school kids from our school approach us before letting us leave with them whilst she went her own way to the secondary school on the opposite direction.