I find myself strolling through a garden replete <br />with cold iconic sculptures Madonna-like from <br /><br />an era much more Catholic than now. She appears <br />walking intently toward class climbing the steps to <br /><br />a temple-like building with thick columns. I fix <br />my gaze on her. She seems to fit into the scheme <br /><br />of our surroundings. She is of an ancient class <br />of cultured sophisticated dark skinned people.<br /><br />Her light brown face draws me to her in a stunning<br />most captivating way. She notices me. I <br /><br />ask her a question from a distance. She can not <br />hear so she moves closer to me. I repeat the<br /><br />question but stare at that face – that face that smiles and<br />responds in perfect Spanish - so I dust off my <br /><br />failing Castellano and communicate as <br />best I’m able in haltering sentences. She <br /><br />is supplicant and enticing and I succumb <br />in a kind of sudden psychic trance and then just<br /><br />as suddenly … it’s a blur ... next I remember <br />she is in our bed room and very much pregnant <br /><br />with my child but I don’t remember the sex with <br />her. I wish I could. I bet it was good. She stands <br /><br />there so small yet protruding so large and still so <br />beguiling by the nearby dresser drawers as I <br /><br />focus in on her studious dark rimmed glasses <br />framing her dark face. She is more demanding with <br /><br />me now as she moves about responding to the <br />voices throughout the big house from both sides of our <br /><br />families who are in the fast throws of our nuptial <br />planning which she takes in feminine stride and I <br /><br />want her in my life so I sit up and go to <br />her and hold her petite body close to mine. She <br /><br />is so small but she is mine and beloved. She <br />responds in kind with soothing Spanish words I strain <br /><br />to understand about her commitment to our <br />new familiarity and future as a <br /><br />family. She breaks off the embrace and joyfully <br />reveals a collection of baby clothes gifted <br /><br />to her by the relative crones and sorts through them <br />demonstrating each item:
