times and my throat burned. Grandma Raquel held me close to her chest.
“Now, ask your Great-Grandfather Armando to help you,” she said. “Go on!”
“Grandma, what can he do?”
“He’s in Heaven, isn’t he? He’s closer to God than you and me. God’s very busy, that’s why God has messengers.”
“If I just needed to talk to Great-Grandpa, what was the smoothie for?”
“To make your throat clear enough to talk to him.”
My throat still burned, but I talked to Great-Grandpa Armando anyway. I told him I was tired of having Bat Springs Fever and I wanted to be healthy again. Talking to a dead relative made me feel like a complete idiot, especially a relative I never knew.
“Okay, Great-Grandpa, I’m done. Sorry to bother you.”
“Lyndon! Your bisabuelo loves you! You’re not bothering him at all,” she said. “Okay, we’re done here. You need another lemon radish smoothie at lunch and a last one at dinner.”
“What?! I’m not drinking that again! No way!”
“You will drink it, or I’ll tell you the story of LBJ’s entire presidency again.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll drink it,” I said. And I did. It tasted even worse, but I drank that smoothie two more times, like Grandma Raquel told me to.
I don’t think I’ll ever know what actually worked. To be honest, I don’t care. That lemon radish smoothie and asking Great-Grandpa Armando to talk to God made me feel better. The next morning, I got out of bed and I made it to the bathroom. I didn’t throw up either. Since I wasn’t sure if I was okay or not, I ran in place for five minutes and felt fine when I was done.