A shaking in my head by movement of the floor where I slept, in addition to sounds of hands clapping, shook me awake. I had no sense of time or how long I had been sleeping in the corner where my aunt Elvira had sent me. I woke up to see a man stretched out on the floor so near to me. As if I was not confused and afraid enough already. The man was using his hands placed flat on the floor palms down, to push and thrust his body up, high as he could as he clapped his hands while his body came down to the floor again, hands landing in original position flat on the floor. This man wearing spotless white pants and T-shirt flying up and down before my eyes was to be my savior of sorts today. Ernest was doing his Navy push-ups routine and I soon knew he was in the U.S. Navy. I had not seen him when I arrived today to this place, but it made no difference to me. He was Elvira`s husband and father to the boy and girl I saw sitting in the dinning room table. A strong and painful aroma of food assailed my sinuses and the pangs of hunger returned.
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Ernest was a good man. He took my hand and pulled me off the floor to my feet. He looked into my eyes and asked if I had been crying. Elvira shouted from the dinning room that I was just a spoiled brat and had to be punished. Ignoring her Ernest led me towards the table and had me sit down to eat. I must have been desperately trying to ease my stomach hunger pangs of pain, as Elvira was determined to terrorize me further even if Ernest was there. "Eat slowly you pig!!, and when you finish go outside". I looked at Ernest as he rolled his eyes and motioned to my aunt to stop. "Neto, I told you already, I don`t want Mage`s crap around my house, I want him out of here now", Elvira was noticeably molested with her husband. I meekly walked toward the door to go outside and she yelled at me. "Sit down on the steps outside and wait for Mom to come home so you can get the hell out of my sight", she spat out at me. "And if you get up and go anywhere, I will come get you, you hear?"
I remembered the decision I had made as I laid in the corner of that floor starving. I knew that I had to get away from my aunt. I did not know how I was going to do that, but a seed to run away was now planted in my mind. As I sat on the top step outside of the small house I looked to my left along the narrow yard to the very end and back of the house. My gaze saw a grassy patch of land that was just over and beyond a rusty barbwire fence. I plainly saw a deep gully just over the wire fence. I could see that from the bottom of the deep gully, a slope was formed upwards very high for me to see what was actually up there, or how high it went. One thing was certain to me. The deep gully was right in the back of my aunts house. I did not even consider walking there to see for myself. I remembered that I was warned not to move from the steps. I turned my eyes to the right side and glanced over a low wooden fence that appeared eaten through time by the hot Texas sun. There, in his back yard I saw him. It was the first time I saw Jesse. I wrote earlier of fate and destiny. I think my fate found me. Now I thought destiny was for me to find.
Jesse moved closer to the rotten fence and just stared at me. "Hi, what`s your name", he asked me. "Roberto, what`s yours?" I answered and asked at the same time. "You want to play races on the tracks?" he asked me. I did not understand and it was just then that Elvira slammed my back with the door as she forcibly pushed it against me. "Get yourself over and go into the house and wait for Mom inside" she ordered me. "And you better stay inside" she threatened me again. I jumped down from the top step and walked past the battered gate, and made my way to the back door of my grandmothers house. Entering I blinked my eyes as I felt blinded after walking in from the bright sun. I saw my grandfather for the first time.
He was awake so it must have been late in the day I thought. My grandmother had told him that I was around and also told him about my mother coming by. He stood there as I walked in, hands as large as hams on his hips. He was a very large and stocky man standing there shirtless with worn and tattered pajama bottoms, as he took a chair and sat down. "Come here Roberto". He held out his hands to me. I did not know what to do, but I obeyed. He took me in his arms and held me for a little bit,as I fought off his sweaty body scent. "Where is your Nana?" he asked me. Nana was my grandfather`s favorite word when describing a mother, any mother. I told him that I did not know, but that she would soon come for me. He released me and stood up and went into the restroom. I sensed that he was not a bad grandpa and I felt safe with him. For years I always thought of that exchange with my granddad. I found out that my mother had been his favorite among the daughters, and he had suffered much pain when she eloped and left the family. He still was a sad man and I found out he missed my mother more than any other clan member.
I heard someone at the front door and went to see if it was my grandmother. It was
Jesse. He grinned when he saw me. I could see directly and straight into his eyes. We were exactly the same height in body, the only difference was that when Jesse smiled and looked funny to me. His appearance was one I had never see before. He was one of those Hispanics very dark in skin tone."Come on, let me show you how to race on the tracks" he said. I just stared at him because I did not know what he was talking about or knew what tracks were. "Naw, I can`t go out. My aunt will hit me if she sees me outside", I said. "Ah she can`t see you, come on I`ll show you how to hide from her so she cannot catch you", Jesse assured me. Jesse was the first friend I met and we became so close that we also watched out for each other. I opened the door and walked down the stairs that now seemed not so many. For the first time I would see what was on the other side of that high white fence that so mesmerized me when I came through that gate.
Jesse led me instead to the side of the house and into his own yard. We ran into the
other neighbors house where there were flowers and bushes running along its fence.
We made our way through that back yard until we reached the deep grassy gully that I had seen earlier. The grass gully ran parallel in a long line opposite the houses. A fence of some kind of wire materials was meant to keep kids like me away from the dangerous trench. The grass and weeds were high with lots of broken glass bottles and tin cans making it dangerous to my shoeless feet. So I paused before following Jesse up the dark asphalt sharp rocks slope to the top, where for the first time I saw railroad tracks. When I reached the top Jesse already was running barefooted on one of the iron track rails. I started laughing so hard I almost choked up fighting off tears of joy. What better place for me to play? I was laughing trying to copy Jesse, but burned my foot as I tried to get on. I looked up and down the tracks as far as me eyes could go and I knew I would be safe. I thought of my mother. But I could care less if she ever came back for me. I had never be happier.
It would be here in San Antonio, Texas where there must be more military bases than any other part of the world that these fighting men and women would see that I survived. They would take care of me, I just knew it as Jesse had told me. In my mind I saw them marching and tossing money at me, as Jesse assured me.
Actually, destiny has me living at the edge of railroad tracks. Instead of seeing all of
these fighting soldiers and Marines, Sailors and other marching by, tossing me money as I thought Jesse meant, they would come by my new home by the millions, in trains. Adolph Hitler is has gone mad. World War II is about to be another layer of calamity and destruction, and despair for the poor. For the first time in coming days I would actually see one suffering person who became know as a "Hobo". On the other side of these railroad tracks, a similar grass deep gully ran. Black folks lived on that side..
Here will begin a child`s journey to become known throughout both sides of these railroad tracks as a fearless, relentless rebel and giver, to those he found suffering.