An Overstayed Welcome: Finding Home

The Week Ends

Another day promised the same confining activities of our situation and there was nothing to do about it. As mom and dad stepped out to leave for work and my sisters and I went into our parents' bedroom to stay in there for 8 hours, a sudden realization about my parents leaving us to our own devices sent a chill down my spine. The thought of the cops catching us by ourselves overwhelmed me, and I imagined them taking my parents to jail and taking us in a home and possibly separating us.

It made me not want to get out of the room at all. When we got hungry, Julia was the only one that went out of the room to get some food from the kitchen. She came back in with a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and crackers. I took out a piece of bread and began to take the crust off and shoved each piece into my mouth while savoring the thought of the plain white bread that awaited me.

Julia and I spent the rest of the day either playing toys with my younger sisters or watching television with them until mom and dad got home. Almost as soon as they walked in through the door, Julia and I walked out into the light of the sun shinning down onto the yard.

The sunlight hurt my eyes for a brief moment until they adjusted. Amanda rode her bike towards us as we headed towards her. Julia took charge as always and decided that we take turns riding Amanda's bike. We took several turns and played with the dirt and rocks underneath us while we waited for the person riding the bike to finish their turn.

It was not long when a few cars pulled up to the mobile home that was across from us. A blue and white Bronco that usually sat on the yard played music loudly as the cars pulled in. A man with a round gut that poked out of his T-shirt with no sleeves emerged from the door. He stood outside of the home and greeted a tall woman with pale skin and long blond hair. Her hair seemed to flow every time she walked towards the greeter. And as I watched her, I hoped that one day I would be as tall and slim as her.

Suddenly, my mother came out of our home with my sisters and my dad. They walked towards the mobile home across from us and sat on lounge chairs that did not usually sat out on the yard. I watched them as I stood there wondering why they were making their way to the opposite side of our home and to the neighbor's. I did not notice that neither her nor dad realized that we were there.

The guy that greeted them handed them a can with the words Budweiser. I did not know what it was, but I made my way towards them. Mother was holding Lina and dad was holding Anahi.

- "Where have you and Julia been?" Mom asked me as she saw me coming up on her.

- "We have been out here playing with Amanda." I did not understand why she was asking. She knew we went out when she arrived from work.

- "I know you were out here. Where out here? I did not see you when I walked out." I looked at her in disbelief and confusion. I could not understand how she missed us. We were in Amanda's yard which was not that far away from our house. It was only two houses over from ours.

- "Ma, we were at Amanda's. Julia is riding the bike at the moment." It's about to be my turn, so I have to go.

I ran off rather quickly as she stayed on the lounge chair. She did not yell or acknowledged that I had left to head to Amanda's. I planned to return to listen to them talk when I was finished riding the bike. When I was back in the neighbor's front yard, Julia was there as well while our parents talked to the neighbor and the blond lady with long hair that almost looked like Nicole Kidman. They were drinking and talking while loud Spanish music blared through the speakers of the bronco.

More people arrived and soon there were several adults dancing around and drinking the Budweiser cans. Julia and I danced the songs that we liked. The familiarity of the environment reminded me of the times we would go to the home of my dad's sister "Alicia or my great aunt "Güera's" where the adults usually drank tequila or some kind of rum with coke and played their favorite songs loudly over the sound of the television going.