It’s 3:41 in the morning, and I just got back quivering into my bed. I’d had to go pee for several hours but hadn’t figured out how I would make it alive. I knew I was living in the rainforest region but this truly clarifies: I am living IN it.
The rain droplets can be heard tapping ominously on the tin roof sporadically, and the crickets abound in song. I just wanted to pee but I was afraid the front door would be locked when I got down stairs and the distant yellow ‘street’ light is too bright to just do it outside. When I finally get the courage to go downstairs, the dog was furry and gone. Josefa the cat is just glad I let him in, and at 3:00 am something is cooking on the stove. In her nightgown my mother greets, “Hola!” in her most cheery daylight voice and I realize this is no big deal. On the way back I am extremely relieved, until I hear the calls of distant wolves… or something. My heart leaps as the call is answered from the edge of the yard. I rush cautiously back upstairs closing all the doors behind me, but by the time I reach my room I’ve realized it was the giant squealing call of the pig we are to eat for Christmas. No artificial fatteners. I guess he thinks he’s a wolf. Or a loud rooster. But my heart stopped beating so fast. Except for the giant “voice of God” that suddenly permeated the entire neighborhood, saying something about ‘compañeros’. I don’t know what to say, but I just hope that along with all my two brothers, sister, parents, and friends, I will learn to sleep at night.
