He looked like an alien. With a dirty work hat perched on his head and tight fitted jeans that were held up by a worn leather belt, he waited outside the door, hand ready to knock. My sister Nancy and I were playing catch by the side of the house when the ball flew over and landed by his feet. I went to pick it up; and as I raised my head, I noticed he towered over me by the foot. Of course, I was only seven at the time, but I'd never seen a man so tall. He smiled at me and his mustache smiled with him. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but my mom burst through the door, breathing heavily like she had been running. Her face and eyes held both shock and horror, but she still looked beautiful. She wore a white lightweight skirt that brushed her knees, white sandals, and a tight flaming red shirt, like an angel from Hell.

She leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before she took the stranger's hand and ran off toward his pickup. I watched her leave, her skirt flying behind her. Not knowing who the man was wasn’t the problem. It was how excited she was to leave. And sadly, I couldn't blame her. They got in his junky blue pick up and drove off.

When I brought the ball back, Nancy asked me who that was. I didn't answer, and we continued playing catch until dark. Inside, my grandma prepared dinner for us girls with not so much as a word. We didn't ask where she had gone because we all knew the answer: she left with another one of her new boyfriends. I hated it when she dated because I felt this sense of jealousy like I didn't want her to love anyone else but me. I went to bed that night crying because I knew she wouldn't be back until the next morning.

I couldn't shake the image of them running off together and her humming him to sleep like she did to me every night. I tossed and turned in the summer heat of my blankets. I pictured the stranger in my head again: tall, strong, weird pointy boots, a huge metal belt buckle. Not to mention he was extremely white. Who was this guy? At that moment, I felt the urge of wanting to go after her. I wanted to know if he was good enough for her, why he was seeing her, and why she didn't bring me along.

The next morning, I woke up with puffy swollen eyes from crying. I had barely slept because I was so traumatized. My mother left me forever, and she would not be coming back. I would be raised by my grandmother, who would eventually leave me too. Those were my assumptions, at least. I dragged myself down the stairs when I saw my mother in the kitchen drinking coffee. She still had on her clothes from the day before. I couldn't help but run and throw myself at her. To me, she'd been gone for ages; and she was finally back. She smelled like worn out perfume and coffee creamer, like always. She let out an exhausted laugh, and I could tell by the look on her face that she felt awful for leaving. Good.

She fixed me a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles and watched me eat it quietly. Half way done, my sisters came down and gave her limp hugs, not nearly as excited as I had been. Mariana and Nancy finished their breakfast; and we all sat at the table, waiting for our mom to explain herself, tell us who the man was and where she had gone. Nothing. Instead she said, "Pack a few days worth of clothes. We're leaving."
We did as we were told in total confusion. As we were packing in the room we shared, we heard my grandma and my mom arguing in hushed tones in the kitchen. Pretending not to hear, we slowly continued to pack. We all trudged down the stairs, backpacks full of clothes. Without giving us a chance to say goodbye to Grandma, Mom ushered us out the door and into the car. Settled into my seat, I stole a glance through the windshield as my mom sharply turned out of the drive way. My grandma stood by the door in her pink salmon shirt and khaki shorts. She raised one hand and gave a short wave. Tears sprang to my eyes, feeling like I chose sides between them even though it wasn't up to me.
As we listened to Christina Aguilera, Usher, and Destiny's Child for two hours, the 94.1 station started to turn to static. The buildings started turning into empty fields of grass and rows of corn. Black cows lazied around in pastures. Massive rows of shower head looking things watered fields and suddenly, I had no idea if we were in the same part of the world. Not a Wal-Mart in sight.

Mariana started fidgeting with the radio and no music from our usual stations poured out. Just static. Frustrated, she turned it off and huffed out a loud sigh. My mom pulled over on the side of a road that consisted of little rocks and dirt. On the other side, there was a cemetery. My mom dialed a number on her phone, and I took this time to take in the scene of the graves. I'd never been to a cemetery before, but I remember it looked beautiful. Fresh and fake flowers were scattered around, and beautiful stones sticking out of the ground with engraved names in them. I noticed that there were four stones with the same last name on them, Patzel. I couldn't help but feel sad for the family who had lost so many people.

My mom flipped her phone closed and stared out her window. We all sat in silence for what seemed like hours. It started getting really dark out, and I got the feeling we were going to spend the night in the car, across from a cemetery in the middle of no where. You could say I was getting scared. I surprisingly worked the courage to ask my mom, "Where are we?" She kept her eyes transfixed on one of the stones across the road. Mariana and Nancy had dozed off so it felt like I was sharing a special moment with my mom, just the two of us awake in complete darkness and silence. My eyes stared at the curly back of her head while I waited for her to answer me. But then, that's when I noticed that blue pick up pulling up ahead of us.

My mom shook my sisters awake, and she quickly opened her car door. The big man stepped out of his truck and started walking toward us. So this is how we are going to die, I thought, in the middle of no where. He probably already has our graves dug up. I started to panic until I realized my mom got out and greet him with a big kiss. My stomach flopped. I wanted to pry her off him and go home, back with grandma, where I would stay up watching her ridiculous Mexican soap operas while we were eating peanuts and drinking Coke, our favorite snack.
She finally stopped kissing the beast, and they both started heading toward the truck. I thought she was going to leave us there when she turned around and waved us over. We gathered our backpacks and got out of the car. I heard the crinkle and crackle of the rocks under my blue light-up sandals. The first time I ever walked on a dirt road.

We slowly approached the opened truck doors, and I took in the enormous vehicle. It was waiting to swallow me whole. Afraid to enter the monster, the man put his hands underneath my arms and lifted me inside, slamming the doors shut. I felt trapped sitting between my sisters in the back seat, backpacks settled on our laps. My mom pulled herself into the passenger seat and slid over next to him sitting in the middle seat of the front. Did she have to sit so close to him? He started the pick up, and it roared to life. He turned on the radio and the strangest music came out of the speakers. A man sang with a weird twang to his words and sang about beer. What is this? I'd never heard this kind of horrid beatless music before in my life. My mom and he sat side by side in complete silence, but I knew they were holding hands in the dark. And that just about killed me.