Chapter Ten: Things are Changing:
Winter in the eighties tore most of us apart. I was eighteen the year it happened. First, the police came into my hometown looking for people from another country. I didn’t understand why Little Johnny and Hong looked worried.
“We’re not supposed to be here,” they told me when I asked them what was wrong.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We are in the country illegally,” Little Johnny explained. “This town just got stricter on us illegals.”
“Am I illegal?” I asked.
“Oh, no, no,” Hong said. “You were born in this country.”
“But why are they taking you away from us?” I asked. “You are our family.” Little Johnny gave me a big hug.
“Yes,” he said. “But the government doesn’t know that.”
“How come?” I asked.
“They are just puntas,” he said. Two weeks later, Little Johnny was arrested by the police and got sent back to his home in Mexico. Afraid of the same thing happening to him, Hong left without a word the next morning.
Next, Monkey joined the army because of family troubles. His daddy hurt his back at his job at the electrical company. His mommy couldn’t pay for hospital bills because of it. Monkey found that he had no choice but to join the military. Dotty tried to talk him out of it.
“You still have your life to live,” she pleaded with him. “You’re too young to die on a battlefield!”
“I have no other choice!” Monkey yelled back. “They have no money to take care of dad!”
“You could get other jobs,” Dotty pleaded. “Just don’t do this to yourself!” Monkey pulled his arm away from her.
“Are you going to pay for my dad’s hospital bills?” he asked. “What about the mortgage on their house? Or food on the table? Are you going to pay for all of that?” Dotty drew her mouth closed and looked at her feet.
“There are other ways,” she said in a low voice.
“Like what?” Monkey snapped. “I have no real education and I can’t go to college anymore!”
“You don’t have to do this,” she begged. “At least think about it first!”
“I have,” he said with a frown. “And this is what I have to do.” Monkey walked away to his room. A week later, he packed up things and headed off to Texas. He sent us one later before he went off to training and we never heard back from him since. (We would years later, but not yet.)
Death also followed us to our house. First, Thomas died in an accident at work. He was trying to fix one of the machines in the factory and got caught in the gears. Thomas didn’t have any living family, so we had to make the funeral arrangements ourselves. Daddy held my shoulders.
“At least, he had friends to bury him,” he said. I hoped that would be that last one, but in the same year, Mr. Charlie got sick and died. He had been sick for years. The strange thing was Mr. Charlie had been getting better lately. We all thought that he would be cured. His death came as a shock to us all.
“It just happens sometimes,” Daddy explained after the funeral. “Death doesn’t know who anyone is; it just comes when it wants to.” The same thing could be said about Tim. Dotty couldn’t keep herself together after he died.
“That man was the love of my life,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.” Daddy held in his arms.
“It’s okay now,” he said. “He’s in a better place.” Dotty nodded her head against his chest. It really hit me hard when Daddy died. He too became ill and ended up wasting away in bed. On the day before he died, he called me into his room. I was twenty years old then.
“What is it, Daddy?” I asked. He coughed as he tried to sit up in bed.
“I’m dying, Honey,” he said. I closed the door behind me.
“Why are you dying?” I asked.
“It’s part of life,” he said. “But please do not despair. This place will forever be your home. Don’t forget that. Hold it dear to your heart and never let it go. You have to live your life. Make the most out of living. If you don’t, you won’t have anything left.” He died on a Sunday. I had him buried under that big oak tree next to my bedroom window.
“What is happening to us?” Dotty asked. I shook my head.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t know.”