Issue #20 (2011) PDF - myweb - Long Island University

My uncle laughed. ―No, they are harmless. They are more scared of you, than you are of
them. It‘s nothing.‖ He said and returned to the porch.
―You‘re not gonna kill them.‖ I said, but he had already left.
Angelo stayed back realizing that I was afraid to go to bed with them flying around.
―Can you chase them out or something‖ I said turning to Angelo for help, because my
uncle didn‘t.
―They will go soon, they not like people. Come, when they go, you go sleep.‖ He said
offering me comfort. Something my own uncle didn‘t stop to do for my sister or me on any
occasion so far on this trip.
We went back out to the porch where they were taking shots of Aguadiente, the Colombian
drink of choice. My sister was there. She had just heard about the bats and wasn‘t going in either.
―Drink," my uncle said holding out a glass with a shots worth of liquor in it. ―Drink and you
will not have a problem sleeping tonight.‖
Angelo old him no, my uncle‘s wife didn‘t say a thing. I had drunk beer at my Holy
Communion party and snuck a few shots of Johnny Walker Red from the bottle given to my father
from his company as his Christmas bonus. So, I took a shot and it surprised them when I didn‘t
choke or spit it out. We slept that night and every one of the fourteen nights with the sheets
wrapped around us as if we were mummies.
The next day we woke up and ate some breakfast of bananas and coconut water. I think
there was something else, but didn‘t want to dirty a dish. My uncle had laid out a couple of pills for
each of us. I asked him what they were for, and he said malaria and yellow fever. We had been
vaccinated before we left New York, but for what for I wasn‘t sure. He was a doctor so we took
them. He gave us more pills throughout the trip, but I don‘t remember how many or how often.
However many we took the great doctor must have miscalculated on my dosage because that winter
I came down with malaria in the middle of December. My father knew what I had when I broke out
in fever, extreme chills and shakes that felt as if my heart was shaking out of my chest, but he had to
convince the New York City doctors to prescribe Quinine for me. My father also said that I was
lucky that the insects didn‘t lay eggs under my skin. I burned with fever and my teeth chattered from
the chills. As my mother covered me with every blanket in the house and then with every winter
coat to try to keep me warm, she cursed out the great doctor with curses so wild and descriptions so
vivid that even the best linguists at Harvard would be hard pressed to define them
Angelo came out of his room and asked us again if we would help him. We agreed and
accompanied him over to the next house a hundred or so yards away. It had a large front porch but
was just one large room in the inside. Even at twelve, I was able to guess that it had been some type
of medical office at one point because of the cabinets and cots that were there. There were a several
large windows holes. They were holes because there were no glass windows anywhere in this village.
These windows had shutters, as did the ones in the house we were staying, but many of the houses
had none. There were people sitting and squatting already on the porch and in front of the house.
They wore western cast off clothes, most too big with faded colors and out of place slogans. Some
wore sandals but most were barefoot. They shared a common look, they all had skin tanned in a
perfect Coppertone hue with reddish straight hair, years later I would realize that, that hair color was
the result of sun bleaching. The people all greeted us with blessing and waves.
Angelo set up on a large table. He spread out his stainless steel medical tools and produced
several jars of rubbing alcohol and little liquid filled plastic cartridges he placed near some large
dental syringes. He moved an ordinary wood chair by the window and called the first patient in.
The man sat in the chair, Angelo told my sister to stand behind him while he examined his
mouth. Angelo asked him his age and if he could get to town for more dental work. The man said
yes and Angelo proceeded to fill several cavities with temporary fillings, as Rosa held the man‘s head
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