"When I was Puerto Rican" Blog Post 2

"There was nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to talk to." (pg 222)

There was nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to talk to. Our apartment was filled with silence, a bustling of motions everywhere wrapped into a wisp thin air. We weren't the constant echoing of the cicadas, we were the quiet cockroaches moving about our day in the apartment without letting the world know we existed. 

It was a Saturday morning, we got up to smell of the food Mom had prepared before leaving for work. We had to wake up early as usual because we didn't want to heat our food in the microwave, as it would alert the things outside our door if we close it. I tiptoed from the bathroom to the kitchen table, following behind me were my sisters, one by one like ducklings following their mother. Once we finished our share, we cover the rest of the food for lunch, and maybe even supper if our parents got home late.

As the sun rose up, the children outside were cheering and riding their bikes up and around the apartment complex buildings. We envied those children, as they were actively talking and letting their bodies reach out to the sun. However, while they were screaming to their heart, we were at eased, talking in a voice about 68 decibel. My sisters and I enjoyed playing hide-and-seek, as it didn't require a lot of sound or movement. I would make sure they were not bored, so I also let them play the radio, however, when we were reading. 

We have read, or should I say I was reading, for more than an hour already and my sisters quietly playing with their toys, we got bored. Just when I was about to get up from the bed, I noticed legs walking across the windows up above us outside. I snapped at my sisters, signaling them to get underneath the bed, they did as I told them to. Just after that, a knock was at the door, I hesitated, but slowly tiptoed to the door, until it got harder and I rushed back to be with my sisters. It was getting late and our parents wasn't at home. No women around this area would knock that loud and the vibration of the knocking had a higher pitch than the knocking with the bare hand, we were scared.