Infinite Country

by Patricia Engel

there is no place that can turn a person suicidal with the quickness of a North American suburb.

But when I see our dad through video calls, I can’t help thinking of him like some distant relative. Somebody I know I’m supposed to care about even if it feels like an act.

When she had her own children, Elena understood a mother is entitled to her secrets.

“Do you know that when a condor is old or sick, or if its mate dies, it will push itself to fly higher than ever before, then drop out of the sky to end its own life?”

Mauro whispered then that a condor, which could live as long as a human, was faithful to one partner for life. Together they nested on impenetrable cliffs, sharing the duties of incubation, making a home for their family only they were able to reach.

She rarely remembered any danger when she thought of her homeland. Lies often accompany longing. But it was worth something that she’d never been hurt or had to hide from anyone the way she’d had to do in the United States.

His eyes were dry, but she knew it was because he’d learned to cry without tears.

we all have regrets and maybe more instances we don’t regret that society tells us we should.