Maria Lopez

PART 1 “If the smoke bothers you so much, go to the cemetery already, old man.” Don Aurelio Martínez stood motionless, his wooden spoon resting on the pot of beans. He was sixty-eight years old, had suffered from asthma since…

PART 1 “Choose your grave right away, Mariana. I don’t have all day.” The words tumbled from Rodrigo’s mouth with a chill that froze her blood more than the drizzle of that gray morning on the outskirts of Puebla. Mariana,…

PART 1 —If you’re going to fire me, fire me, Don Rafael… but don’t take away my shift tonight, because there’s nothing left for dinner at my house. That’s what the young man told me at eleven thirty on a…

PART 1 —If you really want a divorce, Mariana, you’re going to leave this house… but in a box. That was the last thing Arturo Salcedo said to me the night I decided to die. He didn’t shout it. He…

PART 1 “Get your mother out of my house tonight, because I’m not going to keep supporting an invalid!” Rogelio’s scream echoed throughout the ground floor, followed by a sharp crash that rattled the living room windows. Then came the…

PART 1 —Can I sit with you until my mom gets back? The little voice was heard clearly, although in that restaurant in Polanco everyone pretended to be too busy looking at their glasses, their expensive watches or their cell…

PART 1 “No, Mauricio. Your mother won’t be paying for handbags, expensive creams, or breakfasts in Polanco with my card anymore. The divorce was finalized yesterday. As of yesterday, that woman is no longer my responsibility.” On the other end…

PART 1 —What are you doing standing there? Go into the kitchen, everyone’s here and they’re hungry. That was the first thing Daniela heard when she entered her own house. I was leaving the office, tired, my feet swollen from…

PART 1 Doña Carmen got into the car convinced that her own adopted daughter was taking her to abandon her in a nursing home. She said nothing when Mariana placed the small blue suitcase in the trunk. Nor did she…

PART 1 “If you can no longer make money, you have no right to live under my roof.” The phrase came out of Julián’s mouth in front of all the neighbors, dry, cold, as if he were not talking to…