G: Another chapter out of order

Chapter: The wrath and hopes of Senor Yanez

Senor Yanez was pacing in front of a lighted window when his wife and
children arrived. Senora Yanez watched him as the police cruiser pulled
up to the ugly, low building. Her smile became a grimace, and she ran
her hand over her face to make sure her tears were still there. To
complete the picture, she pinched Female, who begin crying immediately,
unused to the sting and, perhaps, sensing her mother's fear of Senor
Yanez.

The boys, who had spent the latter part of the trip laughing and
elbowing each other in the ribs, were met with the fury of their
mother's free hand. Senora Yanez had no intention of having her
deliverance spoiled. She would need the boys' cooperation, willing or
not, to convince her husband that they, too, were upset.

The family had barely exited the police cruiser before Senor Yanez was
upon them, waving his hands and cursing. Senora Yanez steeled herself,
holding out Female in both arms and hoping her husband would take the
baby. He did not.

"The birth certificate! The birth certificate!" Senor Yanez shouted. He
stared at his wife, his sons, the baby; all were accounted for, and he
counted himself lucky. "The certificate!"

"Senor Yanez," the official same, "You should all come with us. Please,
follow us."

"No! I've been telling you. She," and he pointed at the baby, "Is one
of your own citizens. Born here! In your hospital! She has a
certificate!"

"Sir, we've been over this. Come with me, please."

Again Senor Yanez said no, and looked at his wife in such a way that
would almost break her heart. But Senora Yanez was determined.

"I could not find it," she said, "It's gone. I don't know where."

Senor Yanez stood speechless, his arms at his side. Senora Yanez could
see the white outlines of sweat on her husband's chest, moving in and
out. She took a step back. In fact, she could not find Female's birth
certificate, but even if she had, she would not have brought it with
her. Had she found it, she would have torn it to bits and flushed it
down the toilet.

"It was not there," she said, and held Female out again, knowing Senor
Yanez would not take the baby but hoping the baby would act as a shield
between her and her husband's growing fury.

"You. You," Senor Yanez begin, and the police officers stepped closer.
"You could not find it. You could not find? No? No?" His hand shot
forward, his thick, calloused palm slapping Senora Yanez so hard across
the face that she lost her balance. She fell, Female tumbling along
with her. "Could not find it! Could not find it!" Senor Yanez screamed,
even as the police officers pulled him back. His booted foot barely
missed his wife's face, and he collapsed, too, on his knees.

Senora Yanez scrambled on all fours to pick up Female. She checked her
for damage, then remained on her knees, facing her husband. The police
officers remained on either side of Senor Yanez, but there was no need.
He kneeled, defeated, and stared into his wife's eyes. "You could not
find it?" he whispered.

Senora Yanez shook her head. Her thoughts were with Female, and the
pain on her face, and with her husband, who had never kneeled in front
of her, even when he asked her to marry him. But, she was also thinking
that she was through the worst of it, and soon she would be in her own
town, with her own mother, in a house with no toilet but a house,
nonetheless, that was hers. She shook her head again, and Senor Yanez
stared at the ground.

"Senor? Senor?" The official said. He placed a hand on Senor Yanez's
shoulder, a bold move, he knew, but necessary. "Please, stand up. We
should go. Did you reach your family? Do you have somebody to pick you
up?"

Senor Yanez stood up. He did not help his wife stand; she did that on
her own. Had he turned to the small huddle of his sons, he would have
noticed one, the youngest, struggling. Alberto, he was called, and he
had something in his pocket which he had snatched from behind the
black-and-white television in the apartment before this trip had begun.
It was the birth certificate, and he'd brought it with him not because
he knew his father had wanted it, but because several months before it
had been held above his father's head, a piece of paper with so much
significance that his father had held it above his head with tears in
his eyes. "Muy importante," his father had said, "Do not touch, and do
not forget what it means."

Alberto had little idea of what the certificate in his pocket meant
until now, but he was torn between the recent screams of his father and
the joyful shouts of his mother back at the apartment. The certificate
burned in his pocket, but he stayed put, and did not bring it
out.

The family was taken into the ugly building, where Senor Yanez listened
silently to the words of the official and signed forms he could not
read. Senora Yanez sat in a chair behind her husband, unable to contain
her exuberance. Her foot tapped a rhythm that Senor Yanez would later
learn to hate, though he would not know why, while Female slept. They
were all asked to use the restroom, and then loaded into a van that
reeked of cigarette smoke.