After “bruising” me, Maria stood up. “I had a son like you. He was tall, like you too” She said.
“What happened to him?” I asked her. She didn’t answer.
“How old are you?” She asked me. “Fourteen, ma’am” I answered.
“You are young.. So young..Like he was..” She answered sadly.
“Oh..Well then..” I answered. I didn’t know what to tell Maria, I hadn’t expected that response. Not from her.
“It was a sunny day, it was. I had just finished a fight with my son. His name was Josue. Well, he was getting involved with the wrong type of people, if you know what I mean. I flipped out on him because I was sick of his truancy in school. He yelled at me and I got so mad, I kicked him out.
One day, I started runnin into traffic on my way back home from work, and so I asked a cop ‘what was the hold-up?’. He told me that a couple of boys were killed in a gang fight and that-” Maria stopped and covered her face. She began to cry.
I hugged her gently. “I’m sorry” I told her.
I never expected her to hug me back like she did.