Around the time that my host family decided it was best for Elvis to live with us instead of his family on the ranch we received disturbing news. Elvis’ mother had traveled down from the ranch for two weeks to sell some llamas and alpacas. While she was on this trip, she had left her 12-year-old daughter on the ranch, alone. Somehow, the department got wind of this and removed the daughter from the house. Honestly, probably for the best.
Elvis’ father has been staying with us and the alpacas for the past week. He has been belligerently drunk everyday, all day. From time to time I have come across him crying. I don’t ask, I don’ comfort, I walk by. I have no desire to bring myself close to any drunk man. But, one morning while I was washing dishes under a slowly dripping spout he decided to come to my side and share his woes. Trapped, I listened to him cry drunkenly and tell me about how his wife doesn’t want him anymore. How he doesn’t know what to do. I nodded, didn’t say a word, and scurried away with my clean dishes as quickly as possible.
Today, knitting with Roxana we watched him stumble into the compound, crying again. There were some words he had used the other day that I hadn’t understood, so I asked Roxana. She explained far more than I needed to know: Elvis mother was upset when they took her daughter away, and she went down from the ranch to the city of Tapay drinking. She didn’t come back for days, and her husband didn’t know where she was. When she finally returned, he hit her. Apparently, pretty badly. So badly she couldn’t make this trip down to Madrigal with him. For this reason he needs to hurry back to take care of her and can’t help butcher another handful of alpacas. He is also fearful of going home because his wife doesn’t want him anymore, apparently.
I am only thankful that Elvis is here with us, and can’t wait for his father to get the hell away from us.
A conversation I had today as my knitting kneedles are clinking away,
´´Elvis, do you know how to knit?´´
´´No, my dad says that if a man knits then his sons will be gay.´´
´´I promise you that that is not true. It is as important for a man to know how to manage the thread as it is for the woman to manage wood. I would be happy to teach you anytime, Elvis.´´
Dear Lu:
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to know that things with Elvis have settled properly and that your soul seems more at peace when you wrote this entry. Always your friend (and Roxannas'),
Paul