Prayers for the Stolen

I thought of our angry piece of land that once held a real community, but was ruined by the criminal world of drug traffickers and the immigration to the United States. Our angry piece of land was a broken constellation and each little home was ash.

My mother said that she believed in revenge. It was a threat over my head, but it was also a lesson. I knew she was not going to forgive me for anything, but it also taught me not to forgive. She said that this was why she no longer went to church, even though she did have saints she loved, but she did not like all the forgiving business. I knew that much of her day was spent thinking about what she’d do to my father if he ever came back.

Some years teachers never showed up because they were scared to come to this part of the country. My mother said that any teacher who wanted to come here must be a drug trafficker or an idiot. Nobody trusted anyone.

I thought of the hills and valleys around my house planted with red and white poppies. I thought of the towns on our mountain like Kilometer Thirty, or Eden. These were the towns along the old road to Acapulco and not the new highway that tore our lives in two pieces. These were the towns that you could only enter by invitation. If you accidently went there no one would ask you your name or ask you what time it was, they’d just kill you.

My mother listened to her dreams as if she were Moses. She said most problems people had these days were because they did not listen and act on their dreams. If she’d had a dream that locusts were coming we’d have moved off of the mountain years ago. It’s too bad that dream never came to her.

Если о чем-то молчат, значит, этого вроде как и нет.

В Герреро властвовали игуаны, пауки, скорпионы и жгучее солнце. Человеческая жизнь не стоила ничего.

Тот, кто не знает правды, питается слухами...

Никогда не проси у Бога любви или здоровья. И денег не проси. Если Бог узнает, чего ты по-настоящему хочешь, ни за что не даст.

Раз все равно помирать, так уж лучше богатой.

кому ж нужно то, что дают задаром?

чем больше просишь, тем меньше получишь

Да и вообще, девочек без них хватает. Больше нам не нужно

-Если бы у меня родилась дочь, - буркнул полицейский, - я бы на нее плюнул.

Любовь-это не чувство. Это жертва.

Смерть приходит точно в срок, никогда не опаздывает.

На жалости далеко не уедешь.

Скорпионы тебя пожалели, а люди никогда не пожалеют.