Familia Ante Todo

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It was some kid’s party. I didn’t know them but their parents were friends of the family.( Or at least they used to be…) I had been drinking orange soda all night and my little seven year old bladder had finally had enough. I needed to take a whiz. The bathroom was across from the bedroom we had all tossed our coats in at the end of hall.

I noticed a girl who was related to the birthday-kid knock on the door three times as I came closer. My cousin – Em (who was a year older than me) – clamored out the room looking around frustrated. When he noticed me, he broke out in a grin. He greeted me with an easy hello and introduced me to the girl properly. Her name was Mandy and she blushed a shade of red I wouldn’t find a marker (Crayons were for babies by then) to match, when Em touched her shoulder. I asked what he was doing. He winked at me and told me he was hanging out with me and Kay (another cousin). I nodded and went in the bathroom. I had figured out the moment I had seen the way the girl acted around Em, that she’d regret it eventually.

 I walked back out the bathroom and saw Mandy looking slightly confused by the T.V. while Em was sitting on the floor next to Kay. I sighed. I was going to see if I could play with one of birthday-kid’s toys but I supposed that would have to wait. I sat down next to Em with Kay on his other side. He looked away from his candy bag and smiled at me. He gave me another wink and said, “Familia ante todo.” I didn’t speak Spanish despite my heritage but I knew what those three words meant. There was an exact English translation for it but for this situation, it meant that Mandy was going to hate me and Em eventually. “Familia ante todo.” I agreed. I didn’t pronounce it right. From the way Em barked out a laugh, I probably butchered it in a way that would make my Spanish ancestors roll in their graves. Kay – who was about three years older than Em – watched the exchange with pride in her eyes.

Three days later, the entire family was spending the night at Tia Mia’s house. I hadn’t seen hide or hair of Em but I did see Kay. She raised a brow at me as if she was re-evaluating me for a second. I had noticed a couple of the older cousins doing the same thing but I thought that was because they hadn’t seen me in a while. Now it clicked. I mean, we all knew what this BBQ was really about. The adults would never understand how easy it was for us kids to read them. Something happened at the party and one of us kids had been blamed. This whole thing was an excuse to question us at the same time. I was just realizing that whether or not this kid got in trouble depended on what I had to say. Which was what the looks were about. It was time for me to prove myself.

We were eating when they finally decided to question me. They asked me if I had taken anything from the coat. I stared at them for a minute before telling them I had only taken my coat. Hopefully they thought it was a reaction to how sudden the question was. Truthfully it was because I hated the fact that it was so public. More pressure. Then they asked if I knew if anyone had taken anything from the coat room. No, why? Someone said that Em had stolen something from in the room. The younger cousins seemed shocked - that they hadn't figured it out - and the older cousins just watched me. But Em was hanging out with me and Kay. But Mandy said I saw Em come out the room. Who? The girl wearing the blue dress with the green trim that I said I'd like to have. Oh. You mean the girl who walked out the coat room when I was going to the bathroom? And just like that the matter was solved.

"Told you, Mama!" Em shouted. "I told you! It wasn't me! That girl's a liar."

"I sincerely hope he doesn't mean you." Someone whispered in my ear. I didn't jump but I did turn to look too quick. Cousin Jay - who was turning twenty next week - gave me smile before excusing himself. I noticed a lot of the older cousins had left the table. The main attraction was over.

Later that night when Kay and Em sneaked out the room that all of the younger kids were supposed to sleep in they shook me awake and told me to follow them. I tripped over Liz - who was going to shout something but just rolled over and went back to sleep when she saw who I was with. We crept past the living room and into Cousin G's room. When we walked in a lot of the older cousins gave me pats on the back, smiled at me or said something about trust. A couple minutes later Jay walked back in the room and gave Em 150 dollars. Em joked about Jay not being as skilled of a salesman as he said he was. Jay complained loudly that not many people wanted a pink, empty, stolen iPod in the first place. Em shrugged and gave the money to G - who snorted and handed Em a couple of the Xbox games he'd been begging G to get him and 10 dollars change. Em left the room and came back a couple minutes later and handed me the ten dollars. "Good lookin' out cuz." I smiled but I didn't take the money. I didn't want money that had come from stolen property. I told him to give it to Jessie who had a field trip the coming Monday. He frowned and asked me if I was feeling guilty. I may have been seven but it was easy to tell everyone was listening. I admitted that I was feeling guilty but that it didn't matter. "Why not?" the silence seemed to ask. "Familia ante todo." I said, my little voice carrying throughout the room and once again pronouncing it horribly. Some of them laughed and the next five minutes was spent trying to get me to pronounce it properly. 

"Familia ante todo." they told me. 

"Familia ante todo." I agreed. 

Family above all.

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