Mission Libertad (18 page)

“Really?” Luisito said, laughing. “If my friends back home only knew about this!”

Miguel asked José to help him untangle the Christmas lights to place around the house. Rosie and Elena were helping Maricusa prepare dinner inside. Although concern for Abuela still weighed heavy on their minds, they wanted to celebrate the birth of Jesus. It was Luisito's first Christmas ever, since the celebration of Christmas was forbidden in Cuba.

Sonia arrived in the kitchen and started preparing the Christmas eggnog. Tommy and Luisito were
almost finished decorating the Christmas tree. Maricusa and Manuel called them over to see the beautiful
Nacimiento
. They had all worked a little bit each night on preparing an elaborate nativity set on one side of the living room.

“Mi niño,”
Maricusa said, hugging Luisito. “My dear boy, don't you worry about your abuela. I know you are thinking about her. We all are, but I learned a long time ago that she is very resourceful, a very clever woman with a lot of faith.”

“Thank you,” Luisito said, nodding in agreement.

“I'm sure she is all right and wants you to enjoy her favorite holiday!” Maricusa said.

“Why don't you put the star on the tree, Abuelo,” Sonia asked while holding her camera.

“Let Miguel do it,” Manuel said. “This is his first Christmas in a free land.”

Miguel thanked him but said he thought it would be best for Luisito to do it. “It's Luisito's first Christmas celebration ever.”

Luisito didn't even have to stand on the stepping stool. As he hung the star everyone applauded and Rosie turned the tree lights on. What a sight! Luisito looked around at his family in the bright glow of the tree. He felt a lump on his throat. He wanted to cry but held it in.

After so many years of living in Cuba with just his parents and grandmother, Luisito now felt so much a part of a large family who cared deeply for him. The Christmas music and the laughter of his family, the lit tree, and the aroma of the food coming from the oven— these were the kind of dreams he had often had in Cuba.
A short but heartfelt prayer came spontaneously:
Thank
you, God. Thank you.

The doors of the house reminded Luisito of a hotel's revolving doors as his family, friends, and neighbors came to visit. They arrived balancing trays of food covered with aluminum foil and wrapped Christmas presents of different shapes.

Two long tables were set in the dining room, with a round one by the living room for the younger crowd. Manuel suggested that Miguel say the prayer before the meal.

“Thank you, God, for bringing us here,” said Miguel, his voice choking with emotion. “We are truly blessed. Thank you for a wonderful family that has welcomed and helped us in this new and wonderful country. Please be with Maria Elena in these difficult times. Bless us and this food which we are about to receive. Be with our family and friends in Cuba. May our next Christmas be in a free Cuba!”

“¡Viva Cuba libre!”
yelled an elderly uncle from across the table.

“¡Viva!”
yelled the other adults raising their cups.

“They repeat the same thing every year,” whispered Sonia to Luisito.

“What do they repeat?” Luisito asked.

“The part about spending the next Christmas in Cuba, and then they yell
viva
Cuba
libre
,” Sonia said. “They've done it for as long as I can remember. Do they ever get tired? I mean, of wishful thinking, year after year.”

Luisito just grinned at her. He realized that while he was in Cuba thinking that his family in the United States
had forgotten them, they had been praying and hoping to be reunited. Then he remembered Abuela all alone in their apartment. He hoped she knew that they were praying for her.

After dinner, they opened presents. Luisito received some new clothes and a really nice watch from the Galleti family, and a beautiful framed picture of Our Lady of Charity from Maricusa and Manuel. Before he could let it all sink in, it was time for group pictures.

Then everyone drove to Saint Timothy Church in southwest Miami for midnight Mass. The church, while elegant, felt small and cozy. The sweet voices of the school-children made Luisito feel he was surrounded by angels. The music swelled from soft and melodious to loud and joyful. Bright red poinsettias and beautiful porcelain statues of Saint Joseph and the Blessed Mother carrying the infant Jesus adorned the altar.

The smell of pine trees set around the altar permeated the room. Everything was so blissful—bells ringing, the organ playing, and trumpets sounding. Luisito prayed that Abuela would join them soon. He prayed hard. Sometimes he wished he were back in a free Havana. He missed his birthplace—but other times, like tonight, he felt he never wanted to go back. This country was becoming his home and he loved it.

On New Year's Eve, back in Maryland, Luisito woke up to shrieks and laughter. Elena was holding a letter from Abuela postmarked early December.

Dear
Luisito, my beautiful daughter Elena, and my wonderful son-in-law Miguel,

I
hope
you
are
preparing
for
this
wonderful
time
when
we
await
the
birth
of
el
Niño, Jesus! Prepare, prepare!
Muchos cariños
, all my love, to my sister Maricusa, Rosie, and the whole family. I am fine. Do not worry about me. This is the season of hope and the new year will bring with it many good things.

Hugs
and
kisses, Abuela

Exodus
32:1–35

“There she goes again!” Luisito exclaimed. “This is
the part of the clue that we haven't figured out yet. We need to prepare for something!”

“I wonder what she is talking about?” Elena said.

“Well, whatever it is, she is way smarter than all of us because none of us can decipher it,” Tommy added.

“I will call Father René de Jesús and let him know that she is still mentioning it,” Luisito said, reaching for the phone.

Everyone paused for a moment, but then they continued taking turns wondering what Abuela meant by the message in the letter.

“Father René de Jesús can't figure it out, either,” Luisito said after finishing his phone call. “I spoke to his secretary, Sister Therese, and she said not knowing the code makes her feel very uneasy.”

Preparations for New Year's Eve continued. Luisito was separating groups of twelve grapes into tiny bowls for all the family and friends who were gathered at Rosie's house for the celebration. It was a Hispanic tradition that when the clock struck midnight, they would all eat their grapes and make wishes for the new year.

Sherry was invited to the gathering. She was wearing a bright lime-green dress. Luisito wore one of Tommy's dark brown suits.

“You should be so proud of yourself, Lewis,” Sherry said. “Your family must be very pleased that you were able to help keep the statue of our Lady safe! Really, how many times does anyone have the opportunity to do something so meaningful? My life is boring compared to yours!”

“Everyone's life is meaningful,” Luisito said, smiling. “We all have a purpose that only God knows.”

Five minutes before midnight Sonia lowered the music, and everyone gathered around the TV set to see the New Year's countdown from New York's Times Square. Even the lights were lowered so that only the glow of the color TV brightened the dim room.

“Three, two, one . . . Happy New Year! 1980!” Everyone in the room cheered. Luisito gave Sherry a hug.

“I have your Christmas present,” he said. “I know it's late, but I wanted you to have this.” He took out a small package and handed it to her.

Sherry tore off the wrapping paper and opened the small box. Inside she found a gold chain with a beautiful, delicate medal of Our Lady of Charity.

“It's beautiful!” she whispered. “It will always remind me of the brave Cuban boy I know.”

Luisito reached out and gave her a hug. Her hair smelled of lavender. She smiled back at him and they walked over toward Elena and Miguel on the other side of the room. Luisito saw the tears in his mother's eyes and knew that she was sharing in his mixed feelings about this new year. He was sure that great things would happen in 1980, but there was always the uncertainty of tomorrow. Who would have known that last year would involve an escape from Cuba and a move to the United States? What would happen to Abuela in the coming year?

“Everything is going to be all right, Mami,” Luisito said. He wasn't sure he believed his own words, but somehow in a strange way he trusted. He hugged his parents.

The chatter continued and the music played. Luisito went to get his bowl of grapes. He had only one wish— that Abuela would be safe.

Mati took Abuela to the Peruvian embassy, where the cook and his kitchen staff found room for her. She requested political asylum at the embassy and hid for days in an office with a sofa bed. One day as she was talking to a woman in the office, they heard a terrible sound. It shook the ground. A bus had intentionally crashed into the iron gates of the embassy. She heard people screaming and running into the Peruvian embassy seeking political asylum; others who were just walking by saw the gates wide open and seized the opportunity to run inside. Children and parents were jumping the other side of the fence to come in. It was just as
Mati had predicted, based on all the comments she had heard about the people's desperation.

Abuela was frightened. She had never seen so many hundreds of desperate people, all running inside with small children and babies. They remained inside the embassy for several weeks. It was a very unpleasant time, because the crowd was hungry, confused, and anxiety-ridden.

“Is there anything to eat?” they would plead.

There was no way to obtain food for so many people. The crowd began to eat the fruit hanging from the trees on the grounds and even the leaves from the bushes.

The Peruvian ambassador, in order to provide assistance, started emptying all the food from the pantry and kitchen. As the weeks wore on, people ate anything they could find, even raw potatoes! It was not ordinary hunger, but one that gnawed deep inside the pit of the stomach. They were weak and they would eat anything to survive.

Mati had decided to remain at the embassy and ask for political asylum as well. She was friends with the cook, who helped her sneak food to the room where Abuela remained hiding. She and Abuela would eat the dry leftover rice, bread, and even potato skins. But Abuela could not bear to see the people suffering from hunger. She went to the kitchen and asked the cook for chicken bones and onions. She cut up pieces of hard bread and chopped the onions that were left. They put it all in a pot and simmered it to make some soup. She helped fill bowls; then they washed them and filled them again for the rest of the people. The soup wasn't much, but it was warm and had flavor.

Then, surprisingly, the Cuban government gave permission for people from the United States to pick up their relatives on boats. One day, they called Mati to leave in a boat. Mati grabbed Abuela and took her with her. There was so much commotion that no one realized they were leaving. Abuela prayed all along the way. What she feared so much was now her destiny: a boat and the open seas. She prayed as she faced a crowd that was yelling and throwing rocks at her and all the others who were leaving.

Despite everything, she felt calm and peaceful. In the midst of the violence all around her, she knew that God was with her. She clutched her rosary as she made way toward the boat. The first lines of Psalm 27 that Abuela had read so many times came spontaneously to her mind:
The
Lord
is
my
light
and
my
salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?

The man checking names on a clipboard before boarding didn't even notice when Mati pulled Abuela into the boat with her. Abuela mingled with strangers. She didn't see anyone familiar. As the boat embarked, Abuela felt as if she were in some kind of dream—or nightmare.

After what seemed to Luisito like a very long winter, spring finally came. Everyone in the neighborhood was playing outside, walking and jogging around the neighborhood, and planting anything green, pink, and purple. It was as if the town had come alive with color.

“Oh my!
”
Luisito heard his mother yell from the living room.

“I can't believe it!” his father echoed.

He heard the commotion grow louder and came running down the stairs to see what was going on. He couldn't make out what his relatives were saying.