K.Esquivel-LWFC

against Esperanza's first tooth. Now two
more were coming in. Tita
was very careful not to hurt them when she
was feeding her. She hoped
that Rosaura would be, too. But how would
she know, if she'd never
done it before? She wouldn't know how to
prepare her bath either,
putting lettuce leaves in the water to make
sure she slept peacefully
at night; she wouldn't know how to dress her
and kiss her and hug her
and coo to her like Tita did. Tita thought it
might be best for her to
leave the ranch. She was disappointed in
Pedrand if Tita weren't in
the house, Rosaura could start a new life; the
baby had to get used to
being cared for by her real mother sooner or
later. If Tita kept
getting more attached to her every day, she
would end up suffering as
she had with Roberto. She had no claim, it
wasn't her family, and they
could send her away at any moment, just as
easily as one tosses away a
stone while cleaning a pot of beans. John, in
contrast, was offering
her something different, the opportunity to
establish a new family that
no one could take away from her. He was a
marvelous man; she loved him
very much.
As time went by, it wouldn't be hard to fall
deeply in love with him.
She couldn't continue her reflections
because the chickens were
starting to make a huge ruckus on the patio.
It seemed they'd gone mad
or developed a taste for cock-fighting. They
were giving little pecks
at each other, trying to snatch away the last
chunks of tortilla left
on the ground. They hopped and flew wildly
in every direction,
launching violent attacks. Among the whole
group, there was one that
was in the greatest frenzy, using her beak to
peck out the eyes of
every hen she could, so that Esperanza's
white diapers were sprayed
with blood. Tita, stunned, tried to break up
the fight, throwing a
bucket of water over them. That only
enraged them the more, raising
the battle to a higher pitch.
They formed a circle, each one setting dizzily
upon the next.
Soon the chickens were inescapably trapped
by the force they themselves
were generating in their mad chase; they
couldn't break loose from that
whirl of feathers, blood, and dust that spun
faster and faster,
gathering force at every turn until it changed
into a mighty tornado,
destroying everything in its path, starting with
the things that were
closest-in this case, Esperanza's diapers,
hanging on the patio
clotheslines. Tita tried to save a few diapers,
but when she went to
get them, she found herself being swept
away by the force of the
incredible whirlwind, which lifted her several
feet off the ground and
took her on three hellish orbits within the fury
of beaks before
flinging her onto the opposite end of the
patio, where she landed like
a sack of potatoes.
Tita stayed flat on the ground, terrified. She
couldn't move.
If she was caught in the whirlwind again, the
chickens could peck her
eyes out. That hen hurricane was boring a
hole in the dirt of the