the other Alvarez

tradition

"flaquita" i whisper, she was sitting with me watching papito's baseball game, the rest of the family and schnieder were yelling and were really invested in the game but i was bored out of my mind. "mmhm?" elena turned her head to me "how old were you when i left" what i said made her think "i think i just turned 8" i nod my head "I'm sorry i wasn't there" i put my hand on hers. i look over and my mother and grandmother they stand up to do the wave but its stops at schnieder since i wasn't going to do it. "nope" i said giggleing, they boo me "muerdeme mami" i teased. "Eres la mordedora, i still got scares from it Xo" what she said made me cackle. i remember all through growing up i used to bit anything and everything. "okay lets eat, mami comida" abeulita started pulling things out of the bag we brought. "okay the rice and the frijoles are in the pickle jar, and the lechon are in the butter tub" mami hummed at the food "and the cookies are in the cookie tin but they are not the same cookies that came in the tin" she closed the bag and handed the cookies to mami. "ah we forgot the napkins" mami cursed

"grab some from the snack bar, they always make you buy something so one of you's need to make a distraction" mami thinks for a second then says "bonita do that thing where you give them the sexy eyes or like flirt" i scoff. "mami i don't 'do' the sexy eyes they're just my eyes" i laughed at my own words and dramatically winked at mami. "alright when shes doing that grab the napkins and run" shcnieder gave a confused look. "or i can just buy something" mami, abeulita and i scoffed and laughed "your hilarious" she continued laughing.

once at the snack bar i was talking to the casheir "Oye, ¿qué puede una chica como yo para conseguir tu número?" i smile and tilt my head to the side he started stuttering and i looked at elena who was grabbing the napkins. "oh sí, es cierto, mi teléfono se rompió, no importa" i turn and walk back to the stand were the rest were sitting.

when we arrived back with the fam. they started cheering, i had no idea what about but i did it too. mami started the chants "dale papito dale!" we all joined in.

all of a sudden abeulita pulled out a cuban flag and waved it around. "ohh that's new where'd you get that from" mami asked over the cheering "walmart" mamis mami replied.

we were at home and mami was opening the door. "woah what a game papito" she cheered. abuelita walked in and imitated getting a phone call "hello dogers?, you want alex alvarez...we'll think about it" we all laughed but alex didn't seem to amused.

"a lot of your games are a real snooze but today was good" mami said and snorted, "way to put it nicely mami" i slung my arm around her shoulders. mami was short as shit compared to me, and I'm only 5'6 so that's saying something. they started cheering again, "dale papito dale" elena joined it loudly and we all kinda stopped and looked at her. "look whos a sports fan all of a sudden" i commented "oh its not that, I'm just apart of my heritage, you know my cuban heritage" she smiled and sucked on her drink. mami just kinda nodded and said "okay" i giggled.

schneider explained to elena what dale meant and i could tell it pissed her off.

"papito is the best.. from the and to the west, he's a base ball slugger and a real good hugger" mami sang, she loves to make up songs and slogans.

"ohhh that is so cute and true" abuelita said making me smile. i look at alexs face and he roles his eyes. "i just made it up" she said "i love it" i smiled.

"papito is the best from the and to the west, he's a base ball slugger and a real good hugger" they sang again.

i was sitting on the couch with alex when he said "oh my god shut up" uh oh he's sooo fucked. "your dead papito" i whispered. abuelita slowly walked toward alex, "did you just say shut up to god" i smirked. "did you just say shut up to me, cause that's worse" Mami pipped up "just everything your doing is embarrassing" oh my god he's not making this better for himself "that's not getting me on your side" Mami warned, "well i don't like or that crazy yelling you do at my games". they argued a bit more and then alex complained about his nickname. "no papito is not an age thing, we call conrad macho because he sang macho man once. we call fraciso pepe popo, figure that out, I'm called tata, lupita yoyi. your sisters called bonita, chaquita and bebita" mami rants. "and my nickname is pucha, its the way of our people" abuelita cuts in. "if you don't have a nickname then there's something wrong with you" i say speaking up. "do i have a nickname?" elena asks getting of the couch "no" mami and abuelita say in unison. "yes she does and its flaquita" she stops pouting. "anyway its a tradition to call you papito, so were gonna keep doing it okay papito" mami grabs for his cheek. "no you need to stop it and all the embarrassing stuff you do at my games, if your cant then don't come" and with that he storms of to his room and slams the door.