The Visionaries

40

Five years later.....

I stand over the corn fields, staring at the endless sea of green. I feel her move in my rebozo as she stirs in her sleep. My daughter, Isabel, coos in her sleep.

"Alma, will you hurry up, I'm hungry!" Norrin yells.

"Hold on, dammit. The corundas take forever to cook anyway." I say.

I pick up plenty of corn leaves and leave. Norrin is trying to knead the dough while Bree and Dany are prepping the wooden stove. Aaron is grilling some burger meat while my nanita makes homemade salsa. Duane is trying to prep all the ingredients for the burgers.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Dominik looks at me. He has his father's curls and my eyes. "Guess what? I caught a fish!" He shows me a tiny minnow.

"I caught one too!" my other son, Isaac says. He shows me a leaf.

"Baby, that's a leaf." I say.

"Uh nuh, it's a fish!" he says.

"It's a leaf." Dominik says.

"Mommy, it's a fish, right?" Isaac has my straight hair and his dad's eyes.

"Yes, it's a leaf fish." Duane says.

Dominik pouts. I shake my head at him. "Let him think it's a fish. You once had a good imagination too." I say. I take Isabel into my arms. She stares at her brother.

"Mommy, when will Isabel be able to play with us?" Domink asks.

"Give it a few more years, she's still small." I said.

He smiles and runs off to go play with his brother. Dany finally sits down and rubs her visibly pregnant belly. She's due in December. Bree sits down too and her phone rings. It's her family. She ended up working to help Native survivors get housing, jobs, and groceries after the New State's destruction.

Norrin brings the dough to the bigger table where Nanita spreads out the washed corn leaves. It's time to make corundas. It's simple. Just put a good sized ball of dough into the leaf and fold it to form a triangle. Then throw it in a big pot where it will cook all day. Bree sighs as her own corunda looks lopsided.

"Don't worry about it, it'll still be good." my nanita tells her. Bree smiles.

"Gracias, nanita." she said, smiling.

We end up putting the last corundas in the pot. Aaron finished grilling the patties and threw them on a plate.

"Where's the mayonnaise?" Duane asked.

"Right here." Alma passed it to him.

"I miss Duke's mayonnaise." Duane said.

"You know I could bring you some from the States, right?" Aaron said.

"Please do." Duane said. "I hate this stuff. No offense, Alma."

"Eh, it's okay." I say. "Mayonnaise here tastes different."

Bree sighed. "A lot of stuff tastes different here."

"Right?" I say. "It tastes better."

Aaron and Dany sat down. Isaac and Dominik play in the yard as we sit down to eat lunch.

"So when are you supposed to graduate, Norrin?" I ask them.

"Next year. I never thought I'd graduate but I am going to." Norrin said.

"You should be proud of yourself." Aaron said. "I finally finished last month. No more homework for me."

"But in a few months, you'll be changing diapers and waking up at 2 am to feed a hangry baby." Duane smiled as he took a bite out of his burger.

"True, but it'll be worth it." Aaron grabbed Dany's hand. "She'll be a spoiled little girl."

"What do you plan on naming her?" I ask.

"We're stuck between Melina and Emily." he said.

""I think Emily sounds cuter." Norrin was putting ketchup on his burger.

"Same." Bree took another bite of hers.

"I like Emily too." I say.

"Same." Duane said.

"Emily, it is." Aaron said. "That was my first choice. And my aunt's name."

We spend the time trying to catch up to old memories, both good and bad. Crying at the sad ones and laughing at the good ones. Finally the corundas are ready and we devour them. As we all pack and put stuff away, we start to sing stupid shit from Spongebob. Finally, they head to the lower house where we used to live. We head to our own home and put the kids to sleep. We lay in bed and stare at each other.

"I still can't believe we're together after all these years." I say.

"I can't either." Duane said. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

I smile at him.

"I feel the same way about you." I turn and face him in the bed, smiling. He presses his forehead against mine. He kisses my hands and then my forehead.

"I love you, Alma." he said.

"I love you too,Duane." I say. As we start to drift off, I think about this all. Damn, after years of suffering and pain, I finally have a family. Three beautiful children, a handsome husband, I'm back in my homeland and have my own home. No more running away. No more playing superheroes. Just us and our simple life that we have built for ourselves.