Tattoo Artist | o. diaz

ochenta y siete: therapy

Venus stared at the TV in her tattoo shop, watching as Prophet$ were dragged out of their houses in handcuffs and sat on the curb. The reporter was talking, but all Venus was paying attention to was the charges and how they're all going away for a long time.

She looked over to Luis playing in the waiting area with the toys she recently put and smiled to herself. "It's good to have you back, V." Christian, despite his cousin dying, stayed at the shop and helped Venus out when she needed it.

Everyone looked at the TV, watching the reporter talk about how this was a big thing for the LAPD because they haven't caught something this big in a while. Not wanting to looking at their faces anymore, and since the shop was slow that day, Venus left her area and went to go sit with Luis. "I ate all the chips, mamá."

"All of them?" Venus asked, grabbing the small bag of Doritos from his outstretched hand. "That's why you're getting chunky, papito."

"That's okay. Abuela says I'm cute."

Luis smiled up at Venus and she just laughed at him before kissing his cheek. "You are cute. You're like a teddy bear." Venus coo'd as she wrapped her arms around Luis and smothered his face in kisses.

"Mamá, I'm big now." Luis sighed, shaking his head as he moved away from Venus. Venus' jaw dropped and she watched Luis continue playing with Legos. "Can I have more snacks?"

Venus stared at Luis for a second, then shook her head. "You said you're big now, so you can get it yourself."

Luis gasped and dropped his Legos before he turned around and ran to Venus. "I'm still small." He told her. Luis abruptly grabbed Venus' face and started pressing kisses to her cheeks, trying to get back onto her good side. "I'm only this many." He stated, holding up three of his fingers and hugging Venus.

"Papito, no puedo respirar."

The front door opened, and the first thing the Santo saw when he walked in was Luis tightly hugging Venus. "Hombrecito, you trying to kill your mom already?"

"Pablo!"

"Tío!"

Both Venus and Luis stood up and went to said Santo, flinging themselves on him for a hug. Luis was halfway through with climbing his leg when Pablo just bent down and picked him up. In the middle of the three hugging, one the workers in the shop, a longtime friend, spoke up. "Okay, you guys are giving me flashbacks to high school and I don't like it."

× × ×

"Ama, stop being stubborn and let me hold your hand." Venus whined, grabbing Lisbet's hand and gripping it. With how slow the shop was, Venus made the decision to go to the chemotherapy with her parents. Now, she was sitting beside her mom with Luis in her lap.

"I don't like you guys being here and seeing me like this."

"And we're not letting you go through this alone." Venus countered. "We're gonna be here every time, no matter what." Luis nodded his head and put his hand on top of Lisbet's, which was now in Venus's hold.

Lisbet was the infusion Chemotherapy, so that meant she pretty much sat in a chair for a while, depending on what they give her, with an IV in her arm. This particular day, it would only be about an hour and as much as she protested, Venus wasn't leaving. Even though Emiliano would be there, Venus felt like her presence was needed at the therapy.

"Abuela, I can read to you. Mamá does it to me every night." Luis bent down and pulled out "Go, Do. Go!" from his backpack. Lisbet nodded her head, so Luis started reading how Venus would to him every night. He was still learning, so it was a lot slower, but Venus was just proud that he was doing most of it on his own. "Some big dogs and little dogs going... mamá what's this word?"

"Around."

"-going around in cars. Look abuela. They're driving. Dogs can't drive." Luis laughed, turning the book around to show Lisbet and Emilio the picture in the page, which he did for every single page. "A dog out of a car."

By the time Luis finished the story, Lisbet was finally done with her treatment and getting the needle out of her arm. "Where are you guys going now?"

"Doctors!"

Venus smiled at Luis, and then turned to her parents to nod her head. "He has an appointment with his psychiatrist."

"She gives me candy." Luis said enthusiastically. "And she has toys and coloring books."

× × ×

It was required, but since kids normally don't say everything around their parents, Venus was outside the room while Luis was coloring a picture of Iron Man and talking about his nightmares.

"I only have them sometimes now." Luis explained.

"Yeah? What are those ones about?"

Luis froze for a second, then sighed before he started looked for a yellow crayon. "They're scary." Luis mumbled. "There's fire and guns. And the bad man."

"The bad man from before?" Luis nodded his head, continuing to color while his psychiatrist looked at his face. "Who is it?" At that question, Luis shrugged and acted like he didn't know anything.

"He's nice now. But mamá still doesn't like him. Only tío."

"Why doesn't she like him?"

Luis paused for a second, then slowly looked up. "He hit her. She's mad, but he said sorry." Luis explained. "But they're not friends. I like tío Pablo."

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