Post by piccione on Jan 3, 2008 21:49:20 GMT
....about a friend......
I have a pen-friend on death row in California. We’ve been writing to each other for about 6 years now and I visited him once, 3 years ago, when I was in California. He is of Mexican origin, and he ran away from home when he was 9, because of the violence (at home). He lived on the streets of LA, prostituted himself and stole to survive. He’s on death row for armed robbery, and, obviously, because he shot someone.
Now, he has no other contact to the outside world but me - my letters. He was (well, technically still is) married, but when he came onto death row, he told his wife to not visit again and to forget about him - to make a new life for herself and their kids, because he knew how hard it would be for her/them to ‘admit’ that her/their husband/father is on death row. He told me that walking away from her (and his kids), and ignoring her tears, was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He said: “But still, I know it was the right thing to do…for her and my kids.” One of his daughters died of Leukaemia while he was on death row. He heard of it ‘second-hand’. He told me that she’d been ill before, when he was ‘out’, and that he had started to deal drugs to pay for her treatment. When she lost all her hair through chemo, he shaved off his hair off, too, so she would not feel singled out. When I was in California, he asked me to drive past where he and his family had last lived - so I could describe it to him, as it was now (then - 3 years ago).
He knows I condemn what he did (although our communication about his case is limited, for legal reasons). He condemns himself for what he did. But I know, for fact, that he is not ‘evil’ - he is caring and loving, and very supportive. He’s been a great and genuine friend through times when I needed good friends most of all. He writes beautiful letters…although he calls me ‘Loca’, because, for some reason, he thinks I’m crazy. ;D
Anyway, he started to write down some of his childhood memories, because I asked him to. Here is the very first ‘story’ he wrote down. I know it’s got no meaning to any of you, but still, read it if you have some time to spare....
(Posted with permission....)
San Pedro, CA (1966)
It was around 4:30 am. I was fast asleep, in the bedroom I shared with my older brothers, when my sister woke me up: “Come on, get ready, we have to go!”
I asked her to leave me alone, until later, as it was still early and I was tired, but she told me to get up, so Mom and Dad wouldn’t know we had gone.
“Okay”, I said. I was only five years old at the time when, every other day, we would go and steal at the Port of Call, a village of small department stores by the coast in San Pedro, California, about two and a half miles away from our home. My sister taught me how to shoplift there – in all types of stores, all very expensive.
We used the money for food and clothes. We came from a big family – three boys and eight girls. My dad was an alcoholic and an abusive husband. At least two to three times a week we had the police at our home. But my father never went to jail, because my mom wouldn’t press charges. He would be asked to leave our house – or go to jail. So he left. My dad would be gone for weeks at times, leaving us with no money for food or clothes. We received state assistance, welfare, which my dad would take off my mom for alcohol. My mom would go to bars to make money to buy food. I guess she was taking money for sex. But back then I was too young to understand what was happening. All in all, I knew we needed money.
I left that morning, with my sister, Tina. She was very beautiful, and kind to me. And she had a way with words! She could talk you out of your wallet, or steal it, without you knowing! We were eight years apart and I admired her.
We left through the back door. Our cat woke up and wanted to follow us.
I said: “Get back in there! Go to my room!” And I yelled at him, until my sister told me to shut up. “You are going to wake Mom and Da! Just let the damn cat follow us. He’ll come back home. Come on, let’s go!”
When we stepped outside I said to Tina: “It’s cold.”
“Just hurry up”, she replied. “Let’s go.”
Okay, we were walking down the alley behind our house. It was very narrow, and there were some cars around. My sister looked into one of them. Then she turned to me and said: “There is some change in this one. I’m getting it. Look out for me.”
“Okay”, I said, “but remember, half is mine.” – ‘cause everything we got we went half on.
As Tina climbed into the car through the side window, along the fence, then unlocking the passenger door, I kept an eye out.
“Hurry up!” I told her. “Get it, so we can go!”
She said: “Alright, alright, Mijo, I got it.” Mijo means ‘son’. That’s what she used to call me. “Let’s go before someone comes out.”
So we left. As we were walking down the alley, she was counting the money she had taken from the car.
“Mijo”, she said, “look, I found a packet of cigarettes. Want to try one?”
“No!” I said. “Dad will hit us!”
“He won’t find out”, she said back. “Come on, let’s smoke one.”
“Okay then, you first”, I replied.
“Me and my boyfriend smoke all the time”, she told me.
“Who is your boy-friend?” I asked her.
“You don’t know him. He lives by the school. He’s real nice. One day, I’ll marry him. He wants me to move in with him.”
“You know, Tina, if Dad finds out, he will put you away…like Mary.” Mary was my older sister, who always used to run away from home.
“Mijo, don’t tell no one!”
“You know I can keep a secret, Tina! I won’t say anything.”
As we went down the alley, looking into cars as we walked, I told Tina: “Last night I heard Mom crying. I think Dad hit her again. Why does he hit Mom? Why does he hit us?”
I remembered when I went to Mom and Dad’s room, and he yelled at me. Told me to go to my room.
I said: “Dad, why is Mom crying? Is she sick?”
He just said: “Go now before I take my belt off.”
Mom said she didn’t feel good. Told me just to go to my room. I asked Mom if I could sleep with her, and Dad got up and said: “Go to your room now. Hurry, before I hit you!”
I said I wanted to sleep with Mom. Dad took his belt off, and I started crying, ‘cause I wanted to be with Mom.
Mom got up and told Dad: “Leave him alone.” To me she said: “Come on, go to your room.” I asked: “Are you okay, Mom?” She said she was sick.
Then I went to my room. Art, my brother, who was six years older than me, told me that my Dad had hit my Mom again.
I said: “But Mom told me that she was sick!”
He said she had lied. “I have seen Dad hitting her.” He then just told me to go to bed.
“Tina”, I said, “let’s go to the store first, so I can buy some candy, okay?”
“You have to hang on a bit. Everything is closed right now. Here, your half. Almost two dollars.”
“Man”, I said, “I could buy me some toys and candy!”
“Remember, don’t let Dad find out!”
“I know! Let’s look into the mail boxes while we walk down the streets!”
The other day, me and my friend Rabbit were looking into the mailboxes. In one I found a letter that had a dollar in it. Me and Rabbit, we went to the store and bought all kinds of candy with it – and two soda pops. Mom asked me where I got the money from. I lied to her. I said I had found it ‘under the house’. She told me to stay out of the cellar, that it was dangerous – and that there were a lot of spiders down there. But I know she just told me that to keep me out of the cellar!
“Tina”, I said, “I once went under the house, and you know how there is dirt all under the house? I was playing in the dirt with my truck – digging holes. And I found change in the dirt! I found like five dollars! Yeah, Tina, there’s a lot of change under the house! But I got scared, ‘cause I hear noises under there! I hear people talking, but I don’t see no one.”
“Mijo”, she said, “you stay out from there, ‘cause our house is haunted by a ghost! Why do you think no one sleeps upstairs?”
“What, we have an upstairs?”
“Yeah, the door by the kitchen goes upstairs.”
“I didn’t know that!”
“Yeah, before we moved in, this old man and an old lady lived there. Some black guy killed both of them upstairs. Why do you think that door is always locked?”
“I don’t know! Hey, Tina, you know that window that’s by our play house?”
“Yeah. So?”
“The other day me and Art, we were fixing our bikes, and I looked up at the window. And I saw this lady. She was looking at me. I told Art that there was a lady at the window, but when he looked she was gone! He said I was lying. But I did see this old lady up in the window! I’ve seen her more than once. She just looks at me. She’s always in this dress with flowers on it. Tina, why isn’t there a window there?”
“I don’t know”, my sister replied. “Mijo, let’s take this short cut down the hill so we don’t have to walk all the way round.”
“No, Tina”, I said. “I don’t like going that way.”
“Why?” she asked me.
“’Cause there’re witches over there. When me and Rabbit come this way to go to the market, at night, there’re witches there.”
“Come, Mijo, nothing is there. I won’t let no-one hurt you!”
“No, Tina, let’s go the long way. We can look for stuff by those apartments by the store. I’m too scared to go the other way. At night, there are these ladies who make a fire in a circle, and they dance around it! One time, one of the ladies called me and Rabbit. We went over there to see what they wanted, and they started laughing and saying ‘Let’s eat these little boys. Get them, so we can eat them!’ And we ran. We were scared!”
“And what was you and Rabbit doing over there at night?”
“We were in our cave. You know those caves that are on the other side of the hill. There’re like four caves. We made one into a hide-out.”
“Mijo, you stay away from these caves”, my sister warned me. “They’re real dangerous. They can cave in on you! And you can die!”
“We’re careful”, I replied. “Sometimes it’s real scary to climb on the side of the hill. But we do it anyway. Tina, on the way back I’ll show you the hide-out.”
“You’re crazy!” she said. “I’m not going to climb that hill!”
“Tina, I’m taking you the other way. By the hill, where the street is? Where Art crashed on his bike coming down the hill.”
“I’ll make you a deal, Mijo”, she suggested. “Let’s take the short cut, and on the way back we can stop at your hide-out. Okay?”
“But I’m scared to go that way!”
“I’ll make sure no-one gets you”, Tina said. “And witches only come out at night. The sun is coming out now, so there won’t be no witches there, okay?”
I asked her: “Are you sure, Tina?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Come on, let’s go this way.”
“I’ve seen some bikes”, I said to her. “Let’s take a bike, so we don’t have to walk.”
“No. I want to walk – in case we find something else on the way.”
We started our way down the hill. “Look, right there is where the witches usually start their fire!” I pointed out to her, but she just said: “Come on. See, there is no-one here! So lets go down the hill.”
When we had climbed down the side of the hill we reached the street at the bottom. We were still far from Port of Call, approximately an hour’s walk. We were walking down the street, along the side of the housing estate where people on low income lived. We could feel the ocean breeze, and smell the sea. While walking, we noticed a few stores opening up, the sellers getting ready to lay their goods out.
I looked into one of the restaurants and saw some donuts. “Tina”, I said, “let’s buy a donut. I’m hungry.”
“Okay”, she said and we entered the restaurant. I jumped up onto one of the stools and the lady behind the counter asked me: “Young man, what can I get you?”
I said: “Me and my sister would like a donut. How much are they?”
“Ten cents”, she replied, and I said “Okay.”
“Isn’t it kind of early for you to be out?”
“We are on our way to our aunt’s house”, my sister explained to the lady. “She just lives a few blocks away. My brother saw the donuts and wanted one. Our mother is sending us over there to pick up some things – before we have to go to school.”
“I’ll start school soon”, I said. “I’ll be going to Kindergarten, and I’ll get to paint and ride bikes! At lunch, we take a nap. But I don’t sleep, like everyone else does!”
She asked me for my name and I said: “Albert, but everyone calls me Nano, except Tina. Tina is my sister.”
The lady behind the counter asked if I would like a glass of milk with my donut.
“Yes”, I said, “but can you put it in a paper cup, please? We have to go.”
“Yes”, she replied.
Tina paid for our stuff – the donuts and the milk, plus she got a coke for herself. Then we left the restaurant and were walking down the street again. The sun was coming out now. A few blocks further down we crossed the street and the railroad tracks. Now we were right by the ocean, walking alongside the parking lots. We saw plenty of boats. Some of them were getting ready to go out fishing.
Tina said to me: “Hurry up, it’s getting late. I want to be by the wishing well before the stores open up, so we can pick up the coins in the water!”
The wishing well was in the middle of Port of Call, right next to a restaurant and some shops. In one part of the well, there was an old boat, with always lots of coins around it!
When we arrived at the well, I told Tina: “I’m starting on this end. Man, there’s lots of money in there!” It was kind of like a pond with a cement base and clear water. It was only about one foot deep, so the water came up to my knees. I got in and started picking up coins. And so did Tina. We were doing this for like a couple of hours, until there were too many people around. I remember this lady saying: “Look at that little boy picking up money! He looks so cute!”
But most of the time no-one cared what we were doing. And if they did, Tina would tell them that our Dad was overseas, fighting in the war in Vietnam. And that our Mom worked two jobs. She would tell them that we had lots of brothers and sisters, and therefore didn’t have much food. And sometimes, people would give us money!
As I was dipping into the wishing well for coins, all I could see in the water were bright silver coins. I would look up from time to time, noticing people looking down at me from the wooden bridge over the pond. When they said how cute I was, I would look up at them and smile.
I recall one incident when a woman called out to me: “Hey, little fellow, you are going to catch a cold in that water!”
I looked up at her and replied: “I’m a big boy! I always play in the water. See – I’m not cold. Back at my house, me, my sister and my brothers get wet all the time. We splash each other with the water hose. Sometimes, my mom takes us to the beach and I go to the deep part of the water. My mom yells at me then, because I can’t swim. But I’m not scared! I know how to dog paddle, like my dog. You know what his name is?”
“What’s your dogs name, little fellow?” she asked back.
“My name ain’t ‘little fellow’”, I told her. “My name is Albert, but all my friends call me Nano.”
“Okay, Albert. What’s your dogs name?”
“His name is Duke. He’s real big, and he has big teeth, too! He won’t let no-one hurt me. I have a cat, too. Know what his name is?”
“No, I don’t, Albert.”
“His name is Kiki. He don’t like my dog. He is always trying to beat up Duke. Sometimes, Duke barks at Kiki and tries to bite him. And I yell at Duke not to be fighting with Kiki, ‘cause he is real small. But Kiki starts fighting with Duke first. Kiki’s not afraid of Duke.
Suddenly, I could hear Tina yelling out: “Nano, hurry up, it’s getting late!”
“I have to go now”, I told the lady. “My sister is calling me. Bye, “ I said.
“Well, Albert, you be careful in the water”, the lady replied, and then she tossed a few coins towards me.
“Thank you, lady”, I said.
As I continued picking up coins, Tina came across to me, saying: “Come on, Mijo, lets go now. How much did you get?”
I told her my pockets were full of change. “It’s so heavy, my pants keep dropping down, Tina. Can you fix them? My belt won’t stay up.”
“Come here, Mijo, let me see. Give me all the coins, so I can put them in my purse.”
I gave her the change and said: “Tina, lets go to the boat that has all those games on it.” This was a big ferry type boat, docked on the port by the ocean from where you could see the whole harbour. It was four storeys high – three of which had all types of games on them, whereas the fourth floor contained a restaurant – and a beautiful view across the harbour. From there, you could see crew ships coming into the harbour of San Pedro, as well as cargo ships that came from all around the world, bringing cars, food, clothing and other goods.
“So, Tina, how much do you think we got?”
“I don’t know, Mijo. Lets go. Are you cold?”
“No”, I replied.
We had only walked a short distance, along the sidewalk that ran through Port of Call. There were many different shops, selling clothing, books, candy and toys.
One of the shops always caught my eye. It was an art gallery, right next to the wishing well. I don’t know why, but the pictures in the shop window always grabbed my attention. I had several of the prints of pieces of art at home. I had them hanging on the wall in my room. We ‘took’ them from there, as Tina would say.
“There are always the same pictures displayed in the window”, she said to me. “No one likes them anyway, Mijo, except you. So lets take them!” And so we would.
As we walked towards the ferryboat, just before we stepped on board, we came across the little shop that sold oysters. People would buy them for ten dollars each, hoping to find pearls inside. I really hated their odour. But Tina would make me crawl under the make shift tent in order to look around for money, and any pearls I could find on the counter. I would rarely find cash, some change, maybe, but never much.
As we walked on towards the ferry, Tina decided she wanted to go to the shop that sold very expensive musical boxes of all types and sizes. Just before we entered, she bought a large shopping bag, the type you could purchase all along the sidewalks for only five cent each.
I have a pen-friend on death row in California. We’ve been writing to each other for about 6 years now and I visited him once, 3 years ago, when I was in California. He is of Mexican origin, and he ran away from home when he was 9, because of the violence (at home). He lived on the streets of LA, prostituted himself and stole to survive. He’s on death row for armed robbery, and, obviously, because he shot someone.
Now, he has no other contact to the outside world but me - my letters. He was (well, technically still is) married, but when he came onto death row, he told his wife to not visit again and to forget about him - to make a new life for herself and their kids, because he knew how hard it would be for her/them to ‘admit’ that her/their husband/father is on death row. He told me that walking away from her (and his kids), and ignoring her tears, was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He said: “But still, I know it was the right thing to do…for her and my kids.” One of his daughters died of Leukaemia while he was on death row. He heard of it ‘second-hand’. He told me that she’d been ill before, when he was ‘out’, and that he had started to deal drugs to pay for her treatment. When she lost all her hair through chemo, he shaved off his hair off, too, so she would not feel singled out. When I was in California, he asked me to drive past where he and his family had last lived - so I could describe it to him, as it was now (then - 3 years ago).
He knows I condemn what he did (although our communication about his case is limited, for legal reasons). He condemns himself for what he did. But I know, for fact, that he is not ‘evil’ - he is caring and loving, and very supportive. He’s been a great and genuine friend through times when I needed good friends most of all. He writes beautiful letters…although he calls me ‘Loca’, because, for some reason, he thinks I’m crazy. ;D
Anyway, he started to write down some of his childhood memories, because I asked him to. Here is the very first ‘story’ he wrote down. I know it’s got no meaning to any of you, but still, read it if you have some time to spare....
(Posted with permission....)
San Pedro, CA (1966)
It was around 4:30 am. I was fast asleep, in the bedroom I shared with my older brothers, when my sister woke me up: “Come on, get ready, we have to go!”
I asked her to leave me alone, until later, as it was still early and I was tired, but she told me to get up, so Mom and Dad wouldn’t know we had gone.
“Okay”, I said. I was only five years old at the time when, every other day, we would go and steal at the Port of Call, a village of small department stores by the coast in San Pedro, California, about two and a half miles away from our home. My sister taught me how to shoplift there – in all types of stores, all very expensive.
We used the money for food and clothes. We came from a big family – three boys and eight girls. My dad was an alcoholic and an abusive husband. At least two to three times a week we had the police at our home. But my father never went to jail, because my mom wouldn’t press charges. He would be asked to leave our house – or go to jail. So he left. My dad would be gone for weeks at times, leaving us with no money for food or clothes. We received state assistance, welfare, which my dad would take off my mom for alcohol. My mom would go to bars to make money to buy food. I guess she was taking money for sex. But back then I was too young to understand what was happening. All in all, I knew we needed money.
I left that morning, with my sister, Tina. She was very beautiful, and kind to me. And she had a way with words! She could talk you out of your wallet, or steal it, without you knowing! We were eight years apart and I admired her.
We left through the back door. Our cat woke up and wanted to follow us.
I said: “Get back in there! Go to my room!” And I yelled at him, until my sister told me to shut up. “You are going to wake Mom and Da! Just let the damn cat follow us. He’ll come back home. Come on, let’s go!”
When we stepped outside I said to Tina: “It’s cold.”
“Just hurry up”, she replied. “Let’s go.”
Okay, we were walking down the alley behind our house. It was very narrow, and there were some cars around. My sister looked into one of them. Then she turned to me and said: “There is some change in this one. I’m getting it. Look out for me.”
“Okay”, I said, “but remember, half is mine.” – ‘cause everything we got we went half on.
As Tina climbed into the car through the side window, along the fence, then unlocking the passenger door, I kept an eye out.
“Hurry up!” I told her. “Get it, so we can go!”
She said: “Alright, alright, Mijo, I got it.” Mijo means ‘son’. That’s what she used to call me. “Let’s go before someone comes out.”
So we left. As we were walking down the alley, she was counting the money she had taken from the car.
“Mijo”, she said, “look, I found a packet of cigarettes. Want to try one?”
“No!” I said. “Dad will hit us!”
“He won’t find out”, she said back. “Come on, let’s smoke one.”
“Okay then, you first”, I replied.
“Me and my boyfriend smoke all the time”, she told me.
“Who is your boy-friend?” I asked her.
“You don’t know him. He lives by the school. He’s real nice. One day, I’ll marry him. He wants me to move in with him.”
“You know, Tina, if Dad finds out, he will put you away…like Mary.” Mary was my older sister, who always used to run away from home.
“Mijo, don’t tell no one!”
“You know I can keep a secret, Tina! I won’t say anything.”
As we went down the alley, looking into cars as we walked, I told Tina: “Last night I heard Mom crying. I think Dad hit her again. Why does he hit Mom? Why does he hit us?”
I remembered when I went to Mom and Dad’s room, and he yelled at me. Told me to go to my room.
I said: “Dad, why is Mom crying? Is she sick?”
He just said: “Go now before I take my belt off.”
Mom said she didn’t feel good. Told me just to go to my room. I asked Mom if I could sleep with her, and Dad got up and said: “Go to your room now. Hurry, before I hit you!”
I said I wanted to sleep with Mom. Dad took his belt off, and I started crying, ‘cause I wanted to be with Mom.
Mom got up and told Dad: “Leave him alone.” To me she said: “Come on, go to your room.” I asked: “Are you okay, Mom?” She said she was sick.
Then I went to my room. Art, my brother, who was six years older than me, told me that my Dad had hit my Mom again.
I said: “But Mom told me that she was sick!”
He said she had lied. “I have seen Dad hitting her.” He then just told me to go to bed.
“Tina”, I said, “let’s go to the store first, so I can buy some candy, okay?”
“You have to hang on a bit. Everything is closed right now. Here, your half. Almost two dollars.”
“Man”, I said, “I could buy me some toys and candy!”
“Remember, don’t let Dad find out!”
“I know! Let’s look into the mail boxes while we walk down the streets!”
The other day, me and my friend Rabbit were looking into the mailboxes. In one I found a letter that had a dollar in it. Me and Rabbit, we went to the store and bought all kinds of candy with it – and two soda pops. Mom asked me where I got the money from. I lied to her. I said I had found it ‘under the house’. She told me to stay out of the cellar, that it was dangerous – and that there were a lot of spiders down there. But I know she just told me that to keep me out of the cellar!
“Tina”, I said, “I once went under the house, and you know how there is dirt all under the house? I was playing in the dirt with my truck – digging holes. And I found change in the dirt! I found like five dollars! Yeah, Tina, there’s a lot of change under the house! But I got scared, ‘cause I hear noises under there! I hear people talking, but I don’t see no one.”
“Mijo”, she said, “you stay out from there, ‘cause our house is haunted by a ghost! Why do you think no one sleeps upstairs?”
“What, we have an upstairs?”
“Yeah, the door by the kitchen goes upstairs.”
“I didn’t know that!”
“Yeah, before we moved in, this old man and an old lady lived there. Some black guy killed both of them upstairs. Why do you think that door is always locked?”
“I don’t know! Hey, Tina, you know that window that’s by our play house?”
“Yeah. So?”
“The other day me and Art, we were fixing our bikes, and I looked up at the window. And I saw this lady. She was looking at me. I told Art that there was a lady at the window, but when he looked she was gone! He said I was lying. But I did see this old lady up in the window! I’ve seen her more than once. She just looks at me. She’s always in this dress with flowers on it. Tina, why isn’t there a window there?”
“I don’t know”, my sister replied. “Mijo, let’s take this short cut down the hill so we don’t have to walk all the way round.”
“No, Tina”, I said. “I don’t like going that way.”
“Why?” she asked me.
“’Cause there’re witches over there. When me and Rabbit come this way to go to the market, at night, there’re witches there.”
“Come, Mijo, nothing is there. I won’t let no-one hurt you!”
“No, Tina, let’s go the long way. We can look for stuff by those apartments by the store. I’m too scared to go the other way. At night, there are these ladies who make a fire in a circle, and they dance around it! One time, one of the ladies called me and Rabbit. We went over there to see what they wanted, and they started laughing and saying ‘Let’s eat these little boys. Get them, so we can eat them!’ And we ran. We were scared!”
“And what was you and Rabbit doing over there at night?”
“We were in our cave. You know those caves that are on the other side of the hill. There’re like four caves. We made one into a hide-out.”
“Mijo, you stay away from these caves”, my sister warned me. “They’re real dangerous. They can cave in on you! And you can die!”
“We’re careful”, I replied. “Sometimes it’s real scary to climb on the side of the hill. But we do it anyway. Tina, on the way back I’ll show you the hide-out.”
“You’re crazy!” she said. “I’m not going to climb that hill!”
“Tina, I’m taking you the other way. By the hill, where the street is? Where Art crashed on his bike coming down the hill.”
“I’ll make you a deal, Mijo”, she suggested. “Let’s take the short cut, and on the way back we can stop at your hide-out. Okay?”
“But I’m scared to go that way!”
“I’ll make sure no-one gets you”, Tina said. “And witches only come out at night. The sun is coming out now, so there won’t be no witches there, okay?”
I asked her: “Are you sure, Tina?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Come on, let’s go this way.”
“I’ve seen some bikes”, I said to her. “Let’s take a bike, so we don’t have to walk.”
“No. I want to walk – in case we find something else on the way.”
We started our way down the hill. “Look, right there is where the witches usually start their fire!” I pointed out to her, but she just said: “Come on. See, there is no-one here! So lets go down the hill.”
When we had climbed down the side of the hill we reached the street at the bottom. We were still far from Port of Call, approximately an hour’s walk. We were walking down the street, along the side of the housing estate where people on low income lived. We could feel the ocean breeze, and smell the sea. While walking, we noticed a few stores opening up, the sellers getting ready to lay their goods out.
I looked into one of the restaurants and saw some donuts. “Tina”, I said, “let’s buy a donut. I’m hungry.”
“Okay”, she said and we entered the restaurant. I jumped up onto one of the stools and the lady behind the counter asked me: “Young man, what can I get you?”
I said: “Me and my sister would like a donut. How much are they?”
“Ten cents”, she replied, and I said “Okay.”
“Isn’t it kind of early for you to be out?”
“We are on our way to our aunt’s house”, my sister explained to the lady. “She just lives a few blocks away. My brother saw the donuts and wanted one. Our mother is sending us over there to pick up some things – before we have to go to school.”
“I’ll start school soon”, I said. “I’ll be going to Kindergarten, and I’ll get to paint and ride bikes! At lunch, we take a nap. But I don’t sleep, like everyone else does!”
She asked me for my name and I said: “Albert, but everyone calls me Nano, except Tina. Tina is my sister.”
The lady behind the counter asked if I would like a glass of milk with my donut.
“Yes”, I said, “but can you put it in a paper cup, please? We have to go.”
“Yes”, she replied.
Tina paid for our stuff – the donuts and the milk, plus she got a coke for herself. Then we left the restaurant and were walking down the street again. The sun was coming out now. A few blocks further down we crossed the street and the railroad tracks. Now we were right by the ocean, walking alongside the parking lots. We saw plenty of boats. Some of them were getting ready to go out fishing.
Tina said to me: “Hurry up, it’s getting late. I want to be by the wishing well before the stores open up, so we can pick up the coins in the water!”
The wishing well was in the middle of Port of Call, right next to a restaurant and some shops. In one part of the well, there was an old boat, with always lots of coins around it!
When we arrived at the well, I told Tina: “I’m starting on this end. Man, there’s lots of money in there!” It was kind of like a pond with a cement base and clear water. It was only about one foot deep, so the water came up to my knees. I got in and started picking up coins. And so did Tina. We were doing this for like a couple of hours, until there were too many people around. I remember this lady saying: “Look at that little boy picking up money! He looks so cute!”
But most of the time no-one cared what we were doing. And if they did, Tina would tell them that our Dad was overseas, fighting in the war in Vietnam. And that our Mom worked two jobs. She would tell them that we had lots of brothers and sisters, and therefore didn’t have much food. And sometimes, people would give us money!
As I was dipping into the wishing well for coins, all I could see in the water were bright silver coins. I would look up from time to time, noticing people looking down at me from the wooden bridge over the pond. When they said how cute I was, I would look up at them and smile.
I recall one incident when a woman called out to me: “Hey, little fellow, you are going to catch a cold in that water!”
I looked up at her and replied: “I’m a big boy! I always play in the water. See – I’m not cold. Back at my house, me, my sister and my brothers get wet all the time. We splash each other with the water hose. Sometimes, my mom takes us to the beach and I go to the deep part of the water. My mom yells at me then, because I can’t swim. But I’m not scared! I know how to dog paddle, like my dog. You know what his name is?”
“What’s your dogs name, little fellow?” she asked back.
“My name ain’t ‘little fellow’”, I told her. “My name is Albert, but all my friends call me Nano.”
“Okay, Albert. What’s your dogs name?”
“His name is Duke. He’s real big, and he has big teeth, too! He won’t let no-one hurt me. I have a cat, too. Know what his name is?”
“No, I don’t, Albert.”
“His name is Kiki. He don’t like my dog. He is always trying to beat up Duke. Sometimes, Duke barks at Kiki and tries to bite him. And I yell at Duke not to be fighting with Kiki, ‘cause he is real small. But Kiki starts fighting with Duke first. Kiki’s not afraid of Duke.
Suddenly, I could hear Tina yelling out: “Nano, hurry up, it’s getting late!”
“I have to go now”, I told the lady. “My sister is calling me. Bye, “ I said.
“Well, Albert, you be careful in the water”, the lady replied, and then she tossed a few coins towards me.
“Thank you, lady”, I said.
As I continued picking up coins, Tina came across to me, saying: “Come on, Mijo, lets go now. How much did you get?”
I told her my pockets were full of change. “It’s so heavy, my pants keep dropping down, Tina. Can you fix them? My belt won’t stay up.”
“Come here, Mijo, let me see. Give me all the coins, so I can put them in my purse.”
I gave her the change and said: “Tina, lets go to the boat that has all those games on it.” This was a big ferry type boat, docked on the port by the ocean from where you could see the whole harbour. It was four storeys high – three of which had all types of games on them, whereas the fourth floor contained a restaurant – and a beautiful view across the harbour. From there, you could see crew ships coming into the harbour of San Pedro, as well as cargo ships that came from all around the world, bringing cars, food, clothing and other goods.
“So, Tina, how much do you think we got?”
“I don’t know, Mijo. Lets go. Are you cold?”
“No”, I replied.
We had only walked a short distance, along the sidewalk that ran through Port of Call. There were many different shops, selling clothing, books, candy and toys.
One of the shops always caught my eye. It was an art gallery, right next to the wishing well. I don’t know why, but the pictures in the shop window always grabbed my attention. I had several of the prints of pieces of art at home. I had them hanging on the wall in my room. We ‘took’ them from there, as Tina would say.
“There are always the same pictures displayed in the window”, she said to me. “No one likes them anyway, Mijo, except you. So lets take them!” And so we would.
As we walked towards the ferryboat, just before we stepped on board, we came across the little shop that sold oysters. People would buy them for ten dollars each, hoping to find pearls inside. I really hated their odour. But Tina would make me crawl under the make shift tent in order to look around for money, and any pearls I could find on the counter. I would rarely find cash, some change, maybe, but never much.
As we walked on towards the ferry, Tina decided she wanted to go to the shop that sold very expensive musical boxes of all types and sizes. Just before we entered, she bought a large shopping bag, the type you could purchase all along the sidewalks for only five cent each.
