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Yo quiero luz de luna para mi noche triste, para sentir divina la ilusión que me trajiste, para sentirte mía, mía tú como ninguna, pues desde que te fuiste no he tenido luz de luna. —FROM “LUZ DE LUNA” BY ÁLVARO CARRILLO
Who exactly were these Montoyas? Where did they come from? Why don’t they come to mass? And who, in God’s grasshopper-green earth, painted their shutters such a dark color?
Her birthplace was a small neighborhood in the coastal city of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The only reason he used Montoya instead of Restrepo was because it was slightly easier on the English-speaking American tongue. It was remarkable how people treated him differently depending on which last name he used.
“What would your father say if he were alive?” And Reymundo only smiled, because he knew in his heart what the answer would be. “He’d say that you’re a homophobic fucking asshole, Mr. Green.”
The Sullivans didn’t believe in ghosts or family curses. They only used salt in food, sometimes.
She also learned how to fight the girls from good families who made fun of her name, her skin, her whole existence.
Some people just had a talent for things, but they were born poor or ugly or unlucky, and all they could say was “look at me” and try their hardest.
“Abuelita, you’re, like, a tree,” Juan Luis said. His twin elbowed him, sucking his teeth. Gastón stage whispered, “Bro, you can’t just say that grandma is a tree.”
Eddie insisted that everyone call him Reymundo. Rey was too sweet, too causal. Why be Rey? Something that meant king, when his mother had intended for him to be the king of the earth. Why be less when he was so much more?
It was a funny thing that people warned of the dangers of pretty women, that there was power in beauty. But Orquídea thought beautiful men were even more dangerous. Men were already born with power. Why did they need more?
her sapphire ring winked like one of the infinite stars above.
“You have to focus all of your energy on that connection every family has. It’s in our bones, our blood. More than that, it’s in the questions we need answered. The secrets, traumas, and legacies that we don’t know we’ve inherited, even if we don’t want them.”
