“They’re asking for rain,” she said, giving a look which meant “stop whining and go to bed.” But I kept hearing them, kept thinking I saw their little bright eyes staring at me through the darkness. Their persistent chirping, rhythmic and soothing for others, to me seemed like an alarm clock’s loud ticking and made me uneasy. After kissing me, my mother rearranged the mosquito net to make sure there were no openings. That summer throughout the island, dengue had struck and caused fatalities. The grown-ups talked about it in that hushed, serious voice they use to talk about bad things. It was the really bad dengue, the one that causes bleeding all over your body. Tossing and turning, putting the pillow over my head to drown out the chorus of coquís, I kept going over our trip to Puerto Rico. It was supposed to be a big deal, my first trip to the island, and special for my parents, since it was their first visit together as a married couple. Right from the start it didn’t go well.
What do You think about The Accidental Native (2013)?
