HOME REMEDY FOR CURE FOR EL SUSTO

By Juan Montoya

For the better part of a decade

Their paths had parted

He flew north

she, surrounded by her brood,
Stayed in the town

Time passed, they both met others

And started lives anew

When they met again, by chance,

At the local Walmart,

He knew something was wrong

Like a deer caught in the lights

She tried to avoid his gaze,

but couldn't

They hugged and their hearts clicked

Like the hands of the clocks in the section

"He died," she said softly into his wet shoulder

"In my arms, in my bed."

He went home with her and they sat silently

for  along time, remembering

Then, as natural as a heartbeat

They embraced and connected, again

She had abstained since he passed, she said

because he was inside her when he gasped and tumbled,

and started dying

"Nothing worked," she had confided.

"I couldn't get myself to be with anyone, 

Because I was terrified he would die, too..."

"What I needed was a remedio casero p'al el susto...

Gracias, mi amor."