Papa
Who Wakes Up
Tired
in the Dark
Your abuelito is dead, Papa says early one morning in my room.
Está muerto, and then as if he just heard the news himself, crumples like a coat and cries, my brave Papa cries. I have never seen my Papa cry and don’t know what to do.
I know he will have to go away, that he will take a plane to Mexico, all the uncles and aunts will be there, and they will have a black-and-white photo taken in front of the tomb with owers shaped like spears in a white vase because this is how they send the dead away in that country.
Because I am the oldest, my father has told me rst, and now it is my turn to tell the others. I will have to explain why we can’t play. I will have to tell them to be quiet today.
My Papa, his thick hands and thick shoes, who wakes up tired in the dark, who combs his hair with water, drinks his coee, and is gone before we wake, today is sitting on my bed.
And I think if my own Papa died what would I do. I hold my Papa in my arms. I hold and hold and hold him.
