And so then, my Lord, baby Leo could be a piece of oak leaf a thousand years old—or the splintered hoof of a daddy goat who died on a Pyrenees peak-he might be the first drop of blood to trickle down my great-grandmother’s leg, or maybe he’s the sweat on Jim’s papa’s upper lip as he stoops to lift a bridge timber-No. Leo goes back further than that. My baby is hot dust blown from Mercury, cold light from the moon. He is the fish who flies into an Ecuador village. He is the blanket on which Sitting Bull sleeps. He is my mother’s mouth and my father’s ears. He is Jim’s penis and my face. He is staring at me right now as I write these words. Those green eyes that look at me with such a quiet love. He sits in the very center of the rug like a Pygmy Buddha. And the air holds the truth of the matter out to me: my baby Leo just pooped.

15

Because Allie woke up sick Monday morning she heard the whole fight start to finish. She had been dreaming of Jayne Mansfield and Vega Menudo in Beatrice’s kitchen. They were standing around the fryolator watching Sidney cook onion rings. Sid looked very proud of himself. He kept glancing over at Mansfield, who was wearing a navy blue sequined evening gown that pushed her milky cleavage right out there. Vega Menudo wore sandals and was dressed in a plain cotton work shirt and pants like Mexican farmers’. He was the guide of the tour, no Beatrice in sight. As soon as Allie realized this, she also realized she was standing very naked on the other side of Sidney. He lifted the fry basket out of the hot grease and when he started to shake it, Allie stepped back so she wouldn’t get burned. She covered her crotch with her hands, her breasts with her upper arms. Jayne Mansfield saw this and started to laugh. Sidney gave Allie a look like she was spoiling his show, and when he dumped the onion rings under the heat lamp, Mansfield put a hand on each side of her laughing blonde head, lifted it off her shoulders with no blood whatsoever, and placed it lovingly into the sizzling grease. Allie thought she was going to throw up and she woke up feeling the same way.

It was very quiet in the house. Outside was just getting light. She got naked out of bed and walked to the open window. She took a deep breath of very still and warm air and out it came, splashing out the window onto the grass. For the second surge, she knelt on the floor and rested her arms on the sill. On the third, nothing came out but brown liquid and she knew that was it. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then got back into bed just as a car rolled over the gravel out front. A door slammed and her father’s voice said, “Adios.”