Marianna - Hustling for Flowers

 

 

So, when I would hear the words, “Oye, come on, let's go,” I always got excited, because I knew it was going to be an adventure. And so, I was sitting, usually during this time, in my mom's room. She slept a lot back then, because she was separated from my mom. My dad. Sorry [chuckles]. My dad. I would sit with her. Even though she was sleeping, she let the TV on. And so, when I hear my brother and I knew it was going to be adventure, I jumped up and I ran out and I would go find him. My grandmother would hear me from my room and would be like, “Oye, oye, [foreign language] numero para mi.” 

 

And so, I would run and I would go and I would get the money from her, so that we can go downstairs to Donia's house, where you can get a little Cafecito and give her your money, so that you can play the numbers. Sometimes my grandmother won, sometimes she didn't, but she just liked playing the numbers. And so, then my brother took me to the community center in park, and [clears throat] sat me down on a bench and said, “Just wait here.” And I'm like, “Wait for what?” And he said, “Don't worry, you'll know.” 

 

And so, he goes out to the basketball court and he starts playing. They're going for a bit. And then all of a sudden, I hear my brother say like, “Come on, come on, just one more. Double or nothing. You can choose anyone, anyone in the park to play with me. Anyone. Just double or nothing.” And the guy looks at him and is like, “Well, show me the money.”

 

And so, my brother takes out some money, and he throws it in the hat and the guy turns to him and says, “Okay, I can choose anyone in this park.” And so, something to know is that I was only 11 years old at the time, and my brother is 10 years older than me. And so, he's looking around the park, and he sees me on the bench and he's like, “Her.” And he comes over to me and he's like, “You want to play some basketball?” I look over to my brother, and he turns his back, ignoring me and I'm like, “I think I know what this is about.” 

 

And so, the guy says, “No, no, no. Come on. It'll be fast. It'll be fun. Don't worry about it.” And so, finally, I nod, and I get up and I follow him. I don't say much. But what this guy doesn't know is that back at my apartment complex is a broken down basketball court that I would go and play every day with people my age, people my brother's age. And I was really good. [audience laughter] [audience cheers and applause]

 

I had this one spot at the free throw line that I could just sit at and I would never miss. I could easily hit 8 out of 10. And so, I get on the court, and I run around a little bit, but then I just stand in my spot. As I'm standing there, they're all ignoring me, because they think they got this game. My brother gets me the ball, and I get the first one in. It bounces a little bit, drops in, and even the guys are like, “Hey, good job, good job.” [audience laughter]

 

We're like, “Okay.” Wd we keep playing. My brother gets me the ball again, and this time, it's a nice sink off the backboard. Boom. In. And now, they're like, “What's going on?” [audience laughter] And so, they get to playing a little bit more. Guy guards me for a little bit, but I'm the little girl on the court, so they just start ignoring me again. Finally, it comes to the last point. My brother goes up for a layup, and he realizes he's going to get blocked and throws me a no look pass, and I just sink it in. Swoosh. [audience cheers and applause]

 

And the guy that came up to me is like, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no. What is this? Oye, mijo, [foreign language]. What are you guys doing?” My brother's like, “What do you mean, what are we doing?” And he's like, “Mira hijo de.” My brother shoves and like, “You better not.” They're going at it back and forth, and I take my moment and I'm like, “Huh, there's an opportunity here.” And so, I grab the hat and I run. [audience laughter]

 

My brother is right behind me and he's going, “Go, go, go, go, go. Let's go, let's go, let’s go.” We jump the fence, and he goes. We know each other so well that he goes one way and I go the other, and we disappear. They don't know what happened by now. And so, I get back to my apartment, and my brother is there, and I hand him the hat and he's like, “You all right?” And I nod. “I'm okay. Yeah.” And he counts the money and gives me a 20, he's like, “Shh, don't tell mom.” [audience laughter]

 

And so, we get into the house. And of course, the first thing my mom notices when I walk in is the ripped pants from the fence. And she's like, “We can't afford new pants. What did you do?” Her and my brother go at it. My brother's like, “Go, go, go, go.” And so, I go back, and I go in and change, and they're going back and forth. When I come back out, I catch some of their conversation, and my brother's saying, “Momma, don't worry. She's really good. Don't worry. But this money, it's for the light bill.” 

 

They realize that I'm standing there. My brother's like, “Oh, it's my turn,” and he goes back. And so, I take the 20 that I have in my pocket, and I walk up to my mom and says, “Mom, this is for the light bill.” My mom's like, “No, no, no, no. You keep it.” I nod. And my mom, as she usually gets up and is like, “You know what? I'm tired. I'm going to go lie down.”

 

When she goes to lie down, I get this idea in my head. I run downstairs to where I know there's a flower woman on the corner. I buy a small bouquet of flowers for my mom, and I bring them back up, and I go into her room where she's lying down sleeping and I say, “Mom, mom look, I got you some flowers.” She turns and says, “But we needed milk and bread.” And so, I stand there and I'm like, “Okay, we need milk and bread.” And so, I go back out, and I put the flowers in a vase, and I put them on the dining room table and I make it all look nice. I go to the bodega that I know where I'm allowed to go and get milk and bread, and I come back. As soon as I walk in, my mom's now at the dining room table, and she's like, “Where'd you go?” And I was like, “To get milk and bread.”

 

I start putting it away, and my mom says, “Nana, come here.” She takes my hand and squeezes it and says, “Thank you for the flowers. They're really beautiful.” That's when I noticed that my mom's crying. And then, that's also when I notice that there's this song that she played on repeat a lot since my dad wasn't around. And it was called You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore. 

 

In that moment, I realized that my mom wished my dad had given her the flowers. So, I sat there for a minute. And for me, I would keep bringing her flowers, hoping that one day I was enough to get her to stop crying, so that she could smile and not sleep so much anymore.