Burro Genius by Victor Villasenor

Author:Victor Villasenor [Villasenor, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 2008-07-08T04:00:00+00:00

The Father Sun was finally setting, and now everyone was gathered at the pit. For our father, this was the most holy time of the whole fiesta. He took a shovel from one of the workmen, and carefully, he started helping the other men remove the last of the dirt. Then he helped them take off the corrugated metal sheets. An aroma suddenly filled the air straight from Heaven!

People began oooing and oh-oh-ing, and then when the big bundles of meat and squash and corn and sweet potatoes were brought out of the hole and placed on the long and heavy wooden table, people were salivating—the smell was so powerful!

“And now before we eat, my beautiful wife, Lupe, the treasure de mi corazón, is going to make a toast,” said our father.

“Yes,” said my mother, stepping forward with grace and dignity, “we’re all going to be served champagne and give—”

“Served in real crystal, a lo chingón!” said my father, cutting in.

“Thank you, Salvador,” said my mother, refusing to be ruffled by our father’s interruption. “We’ll just wait for everyone to get their glass of champagne, then we’ll give our thanks.”

I watched the people who my parents had hired for the day serve the champagne to everyone. It was a long process. Even my sister Tencha and our cousins Chemo, Loti, Andres, Vickie, Eva, Benjamin, and all the others were served, too. Quite a few of my male cousins were still overseas. One of them, my aunt Sophia’s son, had actually made the national headlines as a war hero when he and his lieutenant had single-handedly captured nearly a hundred Germans. But the newspaper article gave the credit to the young lieutenant, when it had actually been our cousin, a corporal, who’d come up with the idea and then handled the problema.

“All right,” said my mother. I could see that mama was very nervous, but still she stepped forward with such calm elegance, as if she’d been doing this all her life. “I’d like to start, as I said, by giving thanks to God. But I’ve never spoken publicly like this before. I’m not educated, so please pardon my English if I…I…I make any mistakes.” She now raised her glass of champagne to the Heavens. “Thank You, God, thank You, Our Holy Creator, for giving my husband Salvador and I, Lupe, his wife, the opportunity to build this great home for our familia and our friends, new and old.”

Just then, my brother came walking up and he signaled for me and Tencha and our little sister Linda to come with him, up close to our parents. I was worried that our cousins would feel left out, but when I saw our mother’s whole face light up with such joy, as we four children came up to her and our father, I knew that my brother had done the right thing once again.

“This is our familia,” said our mother to everyone. “Our two sons and our two daughters. Joseph, Tencha, Edmundo, and our newest child Linda.

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