When We Left Cuba

by Chanel Cleeton

“I don’t think we’ve known each other long enough to be angry with each other.”

I want him to understand this side of me, the most important part, perhaps. I want him to value the choices I’ve made as I do. I want his respect.

“And you choose him?” Disbelief threads through his voice.

feel as though I’ve stepped outside my body and am watching this happen.

A great romantic topic sentence.

I’m tired. So tired. And more than anything, in this moment I am tired of attempting to explain something to someone who will not, cannot ever understand.

find comfort in the calm manner of Kennedy,

I am not comfortable with this. Pls consider this next to how she describes Fidel.

Fidel is the wild card in this, the man who courts chaos and revels in strife.

She could have totally kept her description of Fidel without comparing his demeanor to Kennedy.

The CIA has been allowed to run rampant for far too long. They’ve become too powerful, too arrogant.

“Don’t act like I’m some problem you have to fix, another person for you to take care of, some silly woman who needs a man to look after her.”

Love this. Def reminds me of Siti. Not wanting to be a problem to be minded.

“Of course not. I’d just rather him stay out of our lives for good.”

This is rather poignant. Finally a real moment.

“It was hell,” Eduardo finally answers, his back still to me.

The back turned to me convo is fun situation to upack.

I don’t want to be relegated to being a silent, pretty ornament like my mother—never respected.”

oh so out of line. I truly hate people who throw this out at their mothers. Her mother, Alicia, is most definitely not.

confess to only feeling a tremendous sense of loss. I thought it would feel like coming home.