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≡ A Bottle of Beer ≡

 
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  • Yolanda
  • Jose
  • Life and Wonder
Bottle_of_beer_sunset_catalog
A Bottle of Beer
 
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Readiness

She moved the basket of jalapeños from her lap, leaned forward in the rocker and reached out for the rifle that she'd kept close by since Juan died.

She stroked the veined walnut stock.  It had been kept underneath the bed along with things that they did not often use.  An extra quilt, a tablecloth her sister embroidered, a pair of black doeskin shoes her Uncle Jesús had made for her wedding, a white mantila, a few toys that had survived a succession of children. Then Juan was dead.  And Javier was dead.  Then Carlos.

She set the rifle against the wall behind her and rocked as her eyes closed into sleep.


 
Imelda needed new shoes for her First Holy Communion.  There was no money, Javier said.  Yolanda had a little savings, money she’d find in his clothes when he came home with Texas whiskey and drank until he passed out. She never took much and not every time.  She counted the coins; there was enough.  But how would she explain new shoes to Javier?

So Yolanda found her wedding shoes and she stuffed the toes with two of her linen handkerchiefs. They looked huge but they stayed on the little girl's feet because of the straps and the buttons.