Read Online Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Sáenz - Free Book Online

English.”
    He laughed. He took out a big brown envelope. “Give this to your mother,” he said.
    I nodded.
    He reached into his pocket and gave me a ten dollar bill. “This is for you,” he said.
    I nodded. And when my mother came home, I gave her the envelope and told her he’d given me ten dollars.
    She looked at me and said, “Don’t ever answer the door if I’m not here.” She gave me a crooked smile. “I have to get dressed. Now, go on and play with Jorge.”
    She always told me that. “Go on and play with Jorge.”
    So that’s the way it was. I spent a lot of time at Jorge’s house. Not that I minded. And Jorge and his family, they didn’t mind either. His mother was nice and I ate dinner there almost every night and I would teach her a little English. And my life was okay. Eating at Jorge’s became normal and Jorge felt like a brother. He and Marcos didn’t get along, and that wasn’t so great, but they both liked me and somehow we managed to hang out together all the time. We were like a team. Since my bike had been stolen, they got together and stole another bike—and gave it to me. That made me really happy. You really have to like someone to steal a bike for them.
    But when I’d come home, I was alone. I hated that. I would read books. And I would watch television. I liked the telenovelas. When I got tired of telenovelas , I would draw. I liked to draw. Sometimes I think books and telenovelas and drawing saved my life.
    3.
    It was a Thursday, I remember that. That evening, my mother came walking through the door. She was drunk. Really drunk. She kissed me and I could smell cigarettes and alcohol on her breath. She told me she was sorry, sorry foreverything and that everything was going to change. Everything was going to be better. I helped her get to bed. I gave her a glass of water. In the morning when I woke up, she was still sleeping. I got ready for school. I didn’t need her help with that. When I came home that Friday afternoon, my mother was making dinner. I remember that meal. She made sopa de fideo and chiles rellenos. It was the best meal I’d ever had. I studied her and I knew she was sad and there was nothing I could do to make her happy.
    And then she said, “Let’s spend the night in El Paso.”
    “Sounds great,” I said.
    We crossed the bridge and my mother showed the border guys her passport and then we took a taxi to my aunt’s house.
    I remember watching television with my cousins. I remember my mom telling me that she had to leave and that she would be back in the morning. I remember seeing a strange look on my aunt’s face.
    I slept on a bed with my cousin Rafie. I was afraid my mother wasn’t coming back. But she did come back. She had a suitcase with her. The suitcase was full of all my clothes.
    I looked at her and she said, “I’m going to take you to meet your father.”
    I didn’t say anything. Maybe I did. I don’t remember. I was scared. That’s what I remember.
    My aunt drove us to the place where my father lived, a small house that was close to downtown. When we stopped, my mother got out and knocked on the door. A man came out. He was thin and handsome and tall and had black hair. My aunt was watching me. “That’s your father,” she said. “You look like him.”
    I nodded.
    I noticed that my mother and the man who was my father were arguing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. They were standing on the front porchof the red brick house. Finally, I heard my mother yelling “You sonofabitch, you have to fucking take him!”
    She put the suitcase on the steps of the porch and walked away.
    She opened the door to the car and looked at me. “You’re going to live with your father.” She sounded angry.
    I didn’t say anything. I wanted to ask her why all of this was happening. But I knew she wasn’t going to tell me. My mother never liked to talk about anything.
    I got out of the car and looked at her.
    She looked back at me. “Do you hate