{"id":2023,"date":"2020-10-24T18:24:37","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T22:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/?p=2023"},"modified":"2020-10-24T20:08:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T00:08:58","slug":"el-susto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/el-susto\/","title":{"rendered":"EL SUSTO"},"content":{"rendered":"

During our lunch break, we could go outside when we are done. That\u2019s what we usually did. I mean, who wants to sit in a smelly cafeteria after all?<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a woman called <\/span><\/i>la <\/span>Llorona who takes children and drowns them.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Mirna rolled her eyes, <\/span>\u201cI know. She\u2019s<\/span><\/i> loca<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And scary. Like who would drown kids?<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s scary, but not as scary as<\/span> el cucuy<\/span><\/i>.\u201d chimed in Cristina.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEl cucuy<\/span><\/i>? Cristy, please no seas una boba. That\u2019s what we tell my three-year-old brother Brayan when he refuses to go to sleep.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Nos empezamos a burlar, because Cristy es tan inocente. She probably still believes in <\/span>El Rat\u00f3n P\u00e9rez<\/span><\/i>. I could tell Cristy was getting offended, so I switched the conversation back to las leyendas.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Miren,<\/span><\/i> el silb\u00f3n<\/span> es el m\u00e1s malo. Mi primo Casimiro actually saw him, and we had to take him to a curandera because he stopped eating. He also stopped drinking, which is good because he was always drunk as a skunk. His paycheck always went to that and only that. He\u2019s lucky that <\/span><\/i>el Silb\u00f3n <\/span>didn\u2019t take him and just made him change his ways.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Cristy sighed like an enamorada would sigh thinking of their crush.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTu primo Casimiro? He\u2019s cute. Too bad he won\u2019t add me back on snapchat. Is he okay now?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t want to date him. Trust me. He\u2019s a momma\u2019s boy. Mi t\u00eda would make your life una gran miseria. Now that he went to a curandera he is all right, but he gets hella upset if you start whistling, especially if you whistle a certain way.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

By now, we were all sitting closer because hearing about <\/span>el silb\u00f3n<\/span><\/i> is always intriguing. Mirna whispered to us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201c\u00bfC\u00f3mo chifla? Are they slow or fast chiflidos?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Slow.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Show us!<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t. No se chiflar.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Cristina whistled and she whistled that slow chiflido that makes Casimiro act like he just saw death and almost faints.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m getting a hella of chills right now.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u00a1Pos de perdis no fue el sombrer\u00f3n!\u201d <\/span><\/i>Lupita startled me. She\u2019s normally very quiet. She never yells or anything. She\u2019s the one that listens while we all yakety yak away. She was frightened by the thought of <\/span>El sombrer\u00f3n.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s wrong Lupita?<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s terrible, I saw him when I was little. He was wearing a dark long coat and a big hat.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

We had to lean in to hear her porque habla bien quedito. Mirna just looks at her as if she is making it all up. \u201c\u00bfQu\u00e9 no hay una canci\u00f3n del viejo del <\/span>sombrer\u00f3n<\/span><\/i>? It\u2019s by La Sonora Dinamita. It\u2019s not even about a scary person.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMirna ya. Leave her alone. It\u2019s not the same person, el sombrer\u00f3n is very scary.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Lupita gives Mirna a dirty look and starts explaining more to us about this legend. \u201c<\/span>El sombrer\u00f3n <\/span><\/i>es un viejo chaparro. You can’t even see his face because he\u2019s got this huge sombrero that covers his whole face. He has these pointy botines and big belt. He loves young girls and horses. He is so creepy and hypnotizes you just so he can braid your hair. He also braids horse\u2019s hairs, he did that to los caballos de mi pap\u00e1\u201d.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cristy starts coughing so loud because she is choking on the fruit snacks que se retaco en el la boca. Once she composes herself, she asks Lupita a question. <\/span>\u201cIsn\u2019t that el hombre del costal? My mom always talks about him to my brother.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019re the same dude.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Lupita spoke up and said \u201cNo. They\u2019re not the same one. <\/span>El hombre del costal<\/span><\/i> sounds more like <\/span>el cucuy<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Mirna looks at Lupita and once again starts rolling her eyes, because like always Mirna thinks she knows best.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I heard el cucuy has a black dog that grows every time it barks.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right. I sometimes hear the bark when I take the trash out.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Mirna, first time you agree with me. You\u2019re always acting like we don\u2019t know anything. <\/span><\/i>Mirna ignores me and proceeds to tell us that if we see the dog we are going to die. Tambien nos dice que, the dog grows based on your negativity.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan we change the subject? I\u2019m scared now.\u201d <\/span><\/i>Cristina looked terrified. <\/span>\u201cNo seas chillona. We are just talking and it\u2019s not like we are going to really see anything.\u201d<\/span><\/i> At that moment Mirna was mocking Cristina and making crying faces. I began to get annoyed with her and decided to look down at my watch. We only had 10 more minutes of lunch time left, I didn\u2019t get to hear more about el sombrer\u00f3n. I was very curious about that dude. I wasn\u2019t going to go to boring Calculus after this and not know anything else about <\/span>El sombrer\u00f3n<\/span><\/i>. Just as I was about to ask Lupita to tell us more, she starts telling us the story.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Lupita used to share rooms with her older sister Fatima. Fatima always had long silky black hair, but there was a time that she would wake up and her hair was braided. Done in these complicated braids that you would have to pay un peluquero to do for you. And she always had pretty flowers attached to her hair. Her parents never knew how she would wake up with hair like that, especially because they didn\u2019t have those types of flowers in the region or in their garden. Even though her hair was braided so pretty, Fatima looked like a dead person. She would not blink. She also did not want to go outside and if she did, it was only to see the horses who by the way, also had braids.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lupita\u2019s parents started to get worried because they would find traces of dirt on her pillow. They even tried to sleep in the same room as their daughters to try to see what was going on, however the next day, they would always appear in their room. Lupita said she never saw anything because she is a heavy sleeper, yet one day, she heard the sound of boots clinking and woke up. She acted like she was asleep and she saw this short man who smelled like the horse stalls. He was playing music and her sister Fatima got up and he started feeding her dirt. She seemed hypnotized and just sat motionless on the bed as the guy caressed her cheeks and braided her hair. Lupita said she screamed so loud that he got scared and left the room. Lupita\u2019s parents came into the room and she told them everything. Afterwards, they had to take Lupita to this curandera who said a few prayers for her and gave her a talisman to wear so he wouldn\u2019t come back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a1Que miedo!<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

As I said that, Mirna screamed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa? Your face looks like you just saw a ghost!<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLululupiiiita, your hombre del sombrer\u00f3n is over there.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere!?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRight there. Behind the bushes.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

We all looked up and we saw <\/span>un hombre con sombrero <\/span><\/i>and suddenly upon us there was a wave of chilly air. The sun disappeared. We jumped as quickly as possible and went into the school. David and his friends started laughing at us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMira estas locas. Why are they screaming?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know Mirna and them. They\u2019re so dramatic.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

We rush to the girls restroom.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat just happened?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all your fault Lupita for bringing him up.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Lupita started hyperventilating and her skin color disappeared, she now looks white like Maycol Yakson\u2019s face.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mirna shut up. Lupita doesn\u2019t look okay.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us look okay!\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYea. I felt like mi coraz\u00f3n was going to fall off!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Cristina starts biting her nails and asks for holy water. My friends always laugh at me for carrying around this little bottle of holy water that I got in a <\/span>misa de sanaci\u00f3n<\/span><\/i>, but this is the reason I carry it around. There\u2019s a lot of demons trying to <\/span>perturbarnos<\/span><\/i>. I pour holy water into a water bottle and we all drank from it. As Mirna drinks the rest of the water, she tells us that this will be the last time we ever talk about this again.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m scared,\u201d sobs Cristina.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all scared mensa.\u201d\u00a0 Said Mirna who looks paranoid.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just stick together and say a prayer. Don\u2019t be scared, God is with us. We say a prayer and go to class.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

For an entire week we kept hearing a barking noise, especially at night. None of our family members could hear it, but we could. I finally told my mom what was going on, that I couldn\u2019t sleep at night and my friends were scared too. \u201c<\/span>Nunca<\/span><\/i>, never again should you speak about <\/span>cosas del otro mundo<\/span><\/i>. You\u2019re invoking them when you talk about them. Here, offer this Magnificat prayer to your friends and you will see that the bad spirits will go away.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The next day I told my friends and Lupita was quieter than ever. Even Mirna who never shuts up was extremely silent. We prayed together and somehow it felt good afterwards. That was the last day we heard the barking and it was the last day we ever mentioned <\/span>el hombre de El sombrer\u00f3n.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/i><\/p>\n

Cueponi Cihuatl Espinoza was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and raised in Iowa. Espinoza believes in the power of literature and at the age of 16, she started a literacy program for Latinx adults. She was the youngest person inducted into the Iowa Latino Hall of Fame as the first recipient of the Latinx Youth Leader Award. <\/i>During her free time, she records podcasts episodes on Confessions of a Latina in the Midwest and spends time with her dog Canela.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During our lunch break, we could go outside when we are done. That\u2019s what we usually did. I mean, who wants to sit in a smelly cafeteria after all? There\u2019s a woman called la Llorona who takes children and drowns them. Mirna rolled her eyes, \u201cI know. She\u2019s loca.\u201d And scary. Like who would drown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":2033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[181],"tags":[432,441,256,438,402,207,437,434,433,435,436,439,257,440,184],"yoast_head":"\nEL SUSTO - Spanglish Voces Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/el-susto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EL SUSTO - Spanglish Voces Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During our lunch break, we could go outside when we are done. That\u2019s what we usually did. I mean, who wants to sit in a smelly cafeteria after all? There\u2019s a woman called la Llorona who takes children and drowns them. Mirna rolled her eyes, \u201cI know. She\u2019s loca.\u201d And scary. 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