My Beloved World Read Online Free PDF Page A

target.
    “Sonia, get your hands out of there!”
    “Give me that!
¡Te vas a enfermar!
You’ll get sick; you can’t eat it raw!” Oh yes I can. I inherited adventurous taste buds from Papi and Abuelita, and I’ll still happily eat many things more timid palates won’t venture.
    WHEN WE WENT to Abuelita’s for the parties that happened most Saturdays, Mami made the hopeless effort to have me get dressed up. My dress would get wrinkled or stained almost immediately, and ribbons never stayed put in my hair, which Abuelita blamed on the electrodes the doctors had applied to my head. It’s true that my curls disappeared about that time, but my hair had always been too thin for ribbons. Miriam by contrast always looked like a princess doll in a glass case, no matter the occasion. It would take me most of my life to feel remotely put together, and it’s still an effort.
    As soon as the door opened, I would catapult into Abuelita’s arms. Wherever in the apartment she was, I would find her first.
    “Sonia, careful!” Mami would say to me. “We just got here and already you’re a mess.” And then, to Abuelita, “Too much energy, too much talking, too much running around. I’m sorry, Mercedes, I don’t know what to do with her.”
    “
Para
, Celina. Let the child be. There’s nothing wrong with her except too much energy.” Abuelita was on my side, always, and Mami was always apologizing to Abuelita. Sometimes even I wanted to say “
¡Para, Mami!
”
    Next I would run to find Nelson, who would invariably be lying on the bed reading a comic book while waiting for me. Nelson was a genius, and my best friend on top of being my cousin. I never got bored talking to him. He could figure out how anything worked, and togetherwe pondered mysteries of the natural world, like gravity. He was up for any game I could devise, including jousting knights, which involved charging at each other across the living room, each carrying on his or her back a younger brother armed with a broom or a mop. Miriam tried to stop us, but it didn’t prevent Eddie, her little brother, from falling off Nelson and breaking a leg. When the screams of pain brought my aunt running, the blame was assigned, as usual, before any facts were established: “Sonia! What did you do now?” Another walloping for that one.
    Tío Benny, who was Nelson, Miriam, and Eddie’s dad, was determined that Nelson would grow up to be a doctor. In my eyes, Tío Benny was the ideal father. He spent time with his kids and took them on outings, which occasionally included me too. He spoke English, which meant he could go to parent-teacher conferences. Best of all, he didn’t drink. I would have traded fathers with Nelson in a heartbeat. But sadly, for all his brilliance, Nelson wouldn’t live up to Tío Benny’s dreams, and I would do well despite a less than perfect father.
    Abuelita’s apartment was small enough that wherever we settled down to play, the warm smells of her feast would find us, beckoning like cartoon ribbons in the air. Garlic and onions calling, still the happiest smells I know.
    “Mercedes, you should open your own restaurant.”
    “Don’t be shy, there’s plenty.”
    The dominoes never stopped for dinner. The game was serious. Someone would have to lose the whole match and give up the seat before even thinking about food. “
¿Tu estás ciego?
It’s right in front of your eyes!” They’d yell a lot and pretend to be angry.
    “Benny, wake up and look at what you have!” Mami counters. She was good at this and could keep track of every bone played.
    “Hey, no cheating! How many times are you going to cough? Somebody get this man a drink, he’s choking!”
    “Don’t look at me, I’m honest. Mercedes is the one who cheats.”
    “I know you have that
ficha
, so play it!”
    “Nice one, Celina.”
    Gallego’s out of the game, calling foul as he goes. He picks up his
güiro
and strums a ratchety rhythm on the gourd, playing along with