http://students.hthma.hightechhigh.org/~jleon/zine-jocelyn-karina-adriana-lenia.pdf
Pablo is a brown, short Mexican teenager that has dark brown hair and long thick eyelashes that make his eyes look sweeter than he is. Whenever he turned to look at a girl they would just giggle without any joke. He has a very playful side to him that sometimes makes him annoying to other people. Some people look at him and they just laugh at his gestures that he makes even if they were pointless, like winking at someone he didn't know. He tries hiding his emotions by making people laugh and tricking himself into thinking that everything is alright in his family's economic situation, since they are in the year of the crisis. He wants to help out in whatever he can but he doesn't know how. People tell him that the only way he can help his family is by going to the USA and getting a good paid job.
"I have to talk to you guys, mom and dad, it's something very delicate and it will change everything." Pablo spoke in a serious tone of voice which seemed strange since it was rare seeing him serious.
"Pablito what's wrong, what happened?" His mom replied almost frightened of what he was going to say.
"Nothing bad really, but it can change our lives if I go,"
He said in response looking around at the house that was particularly small and very humble.
"Wait!What!Where are you going?" Dona Teresa shouted out with a great stutter.
"Don't worry I'm just going to the other side with all the "gringos"...to help you guys out with the money."
He replied looking into their eyes.
Dona Teresa had a frightened look on her face just thinking about all the bad things that can happen to her son while crossing the border. She had heard many of her friends tell her horrible stories about crossing the border and not coming back. She didn't look so convinced about this idea of his. Everybody suddenly got very silent to the hearing of this idea, Pablo waiting for a response, Dona Teresa thinking and mumbaling words that weren't clear, and Don Carlos just standing there looking at them with a suprised face, which very often occurred. Until Don Carlos jumped up and gave Pablo a great big hug tapping him on the back and saying how much this ment to him. Don Carlos very openly agreed with Pablo and told him that when he was young, going to the other side was his ultimate dream and he was happy to know that one of his kids was going to fufill it. Dona Teresa looked very mournful and ran to Pablo's arms while he was still there, she took a deep breath and tears rolled down her cheeks like rain drops pouring down making his shoulder a puddle of tears.
A few days later Pablo planned everything very detailed and successfully crossed over to the other side with the help of his friends the "polleros." Being there was his ultimate experience and he wanted to find a job as quick as he could so he could send some money to his family. After looking for a job for many days he stood in front of a Jack in the Box, which was very unfamiliar to him since it was awkward looking at a round white face with a triangular looking haton top. He didn't know any English at the time so he went inside and asked to speak with a Mexican.
As he was waiting for a Mexican person to come, he didn't expect for this beautiful golden brown curvy women to come through the door looking for him.
"Hey you must be the Mexican that asked for me, and wants a job. Right?"
She said looking at him up and down and smiling.
"Yes that's me "senorita," I can work as anything." He said trying not to look so foolish in her presence.
"Okay that works for me, stay here and I'll go ask the manager."
He was so happy to find someone that could be his future girlfriend. He wanted that job so badly that he almost crossed his fingers so that the "muchacha" could tell him he had the job.When she was heading towards Pablo he only looked to turn to her and didn't see that behind her was the manager. The manager was very tall, had light pink skin and his eyes popped out with great color of intensity when he gasped to look at him.
Pablo had a big conversation with the "gringo" even though he didn't speak much Spanish, but the girl translated everything he said to him. After he got the job he found out that he would be working with the girl. He didn't pay much attention about introducing himself formally to her before suddenly she came up to him and told him
"By the way I'm Rosa."
He was surprised and replied "I'm Pablo from Durango."
After two years of being in San Diego, California, he sent plenty of money to his parents so that they could be in a stable position and wouldn't need anything else. He was also studying to be a professional photographer, which got him a better job in a modeling agency where they paid him very well for what he liked to do. Rosa and him were also together for quite a while since they were living together. But they were going through a lot of relationship problems that caused them to fight every time they brought up Pablo's job.
"Don’t you scream at me Pablo!" Rosa blurted out from the top of her lungs.
"Well I will if you don't understand." He replied furiously.
Rosa and Pablo had been arguing about the same thing almost everyday now.
"You’re the one that spends most of your time on her!" She screamed with mighty force, letting out a rage of jealousy in her eyes.
Pablo always tries to act professional when it comes to his new job as a photographer. He photographed beautiful models in bikinis which is one of his most feared temptations, but sometimes he gets a little more attracted to them than usual. The only thing that saves him is remembering his girlfriend’s fleshy pallid skin that feels like he is touching a feathery blanket that keeps him warm all the time. He always remembers her delicious enchiladas that she makes when he comes home and he won't change her for anything in the world.
The next day to his suspense, he sees her packing up her belongings and being very anxious to get out of the apartment that when she saw him she immediatly left, without even whispering a word to him. Rosa didn't even have to tell Pablo nothing for their relationship to be officially over, she just disappeared in a matter of minutes. Pablo bent over to the ground on his knees, his look was lost, he wondered of why all of this was happening to him. At that moment this wierd feeling came upon him that made one of his eyes watery, when suddenly a tear rolled down his cheek very unexpectedly. He spontainiously looked down and saw a spot of water on the side of his pants and realized why his mom cried when he was going to leave to the U.S.A. This feeling was very strong, he couldn't help but cry.She had left no where to be found.
When his depression felt too much for him to handle, another big thing happened, his family had been going through another big crisis, but this one was worse. His family was almost living in the streets due to the economic level they were living in. Pablo's money wasn't enough for them anymore so he decided to go back to Mexico and work harder to get their economic situation up.
When he arrives to Durango, he heads towards his family's house and bumps into a man dressed very formal and has the look of someone who isn't always happy. The guy tells him that his parents need to pay the bill of the water, light, and gas or else it would not be given to them. When he looks outside he notices that their situation was worse than ever. His parents were selling stuff in the streets and asking for money to spare from other people. His brothers and sisters don't go to school because they don't have enough money to pay for the semester.
Pablo was shocked when he heard and seemed very confused to what was happening. He immediately talked to his parents and they told him that the economic situation in Mexico wasn't going through so far. He remembered this situation 2 years ago and this time he knew the exact thing to do so they wouldn't be worried about money anymore. He decided to open a bank account in his parent’s names and give them all his savings. At first he saved that money to ask Rosa to marry him, but this was an emergency so he wanted to give it to his family, family always came first for him.
He expected his family to invest the money in clothes and supplies they needed but instead they were smart enough to make a business on their own and make their own money.
Pablo spent his time in Durango very satisfied when he remembered Rosa and all the love he feels for her deep inside him even though she left him. He whispers her name
"RRRR-OOO-SSSS-AAAA"
From that day on he wondered all the great things he could of done with her. He doesn't know what to do with his desperate love for her so he decides to go back to the other side and find her, he wants to propose to her. He quickly runs to his parent’s house telling them the great news and he heads out to cross the border once again. Knowing all the dangerous things that can happen to him if he crosses the border he takes the risk and doesn't stop. He is all ready to cross the border in a car by Tijuana until the immigration patrol finds the driver which runs away leaving Pablo in the trunk of the car. Sadly Pablo dies suficated, while trying to get the trunk open so he can breathe, but it's too late.
His family finds out a week later when his body is found dead in the trunk of a car near the Tijuana border. They are very depressed and shocked by the news thinking that Pablo was going to cross the border safely like last time but they were wrong.
They make a funeral at the house for him and invite Rosa who comes and has the most dreadful expression on her face when she finds out what happened to Pablo. She didn't imagine that this could have happened to him because she really loved him. After everything was over that night Pablo's parents told Rosa about Pablo wanting to propose to her when he got back from Mexico. She took this very hard and started letting out rivers of tears on her face. She quickly turned around and rushed out of the room. Later on the next day Pablo's parents heard that Rosa had taken her life on a bridge near the middle of the city. They responded to the news with a sudden suspense and stayed quiet with a whisper.
"May they come together and rest in peace."
