links to the old neighborhood. But he couldn’t go anymore by himself to the one
little Gallego market that still stood amid all the Chinese and Latin American
stores. The shop smelling of sausage and spices, with the bloody-smocked,
friendly-gruff butchers who spoke his old dialect. And who sold the precious red
saffron in tiny jars or tins holding just a few strands, like curly thread or thin, wiry
hair. It cost a fortune but it made the dish.
ow Beatriz was asking him if he needed anything else. He decided not to be
N
mean, and simply answered “No, thanks, cara.” He watched Beatriz drive off in
her fortified vehicle, through the mud of the poorly paved road.
ndrew sat at his computer, trying to concentrate on a nature web site. For a
A
while now he’d been interested in bugs, and had been compiling a list of insects
on the property, which he would carefully divide into categories and sub-
categories. Today he’d found some carpenter ants and wanted to learn more
about them.
nly his grandfather understood about the bugs, which bugged his parents,
O
especially his mother. He couldn’t tell if they were bothered more by his
entomological interests or the fact that his grandfather wasn’t bothered and in
fact encouraged him. Andrew knew the hobby was a little weird, and sometimes
he understood his parents’ attitude. Other times he just wanted to tell them to
fuck off. Occasionally he fantasized about capturing some lethal species, small
poisonous spiders maybe, and letting them loose in the house before making his
escape.
His grandfather knew a lot about plants and birds and animals, especially sea
creatures. He talked to Andrew a lot lately about the ways of nature, how they
seemed meaningless and cruel but might be part of a grand plan no one had yet
figured out.
He and his grandfather also shared a dislike for Andrew’s new house, which was
in a development called Park Avenue West. His grandfather called it Parking Lot
West, or sometimes, when he didn’t know Andrew was listening, Pretentious
Assholes West. Andrew had looked up “pretentious.”
99