The Bonjour Gene: A Novel

Chapter 10. The Duck

101 Marco popped into the kitchen just as his mother said something in Spanish about a duck at his sister Tina’s birthday party. Aunt Norma was mixing a dip for chips while Mami arranged poultry pieces in a baking pan. Marco asked if what she prepared was duck, because he had never eaten duck and didn’t know if he would like it. “No,” she explained in English, “this is chicken.” “So what did you say before about a duck at the party?” Mami gave a confused look at Norma, then giggled. “Oh, . . . well, a duck in Spanish is a man who moves his behind from side to side, like a duck, when he walks.” “Like Carla?” The next-door neighbor, famous in the building for her sway in tight pants. Mami smiled at Norma again, “Yes.” “Then when is this duck going to get here?” Mami looked at Norma again before answering. She said that she had been only joking about somebody who said he might stop by. “But you should never call anybody a duck in Spanish because it isn’t nice. Now run and tell Tina to get out of the bathtub.” Marco shouted Mami’s instructions to Tina through the bathroom door, then stood in front of the body-length mirror, admiring his outfit: Western hat, boots, shirt—a plump, olive-skinned cowboy . He looked forward to showing Papi his cowboy outfit with a bandanna, like the brightly colored handkerchiefs Papi sometimes wears in the open collar of his shirts. k The Duck The door swung back and Tina tiptoed out, wrapped in a towel and still dripping wet, hollering that she was out. Fastidious Tina had refused to get ready until the very last second. The door buzzer sounded, and Marco ran to get the door, almost crashing into Mami on her way to dress up Tina. He had hoped his Papi was at the door, but from the long continuous buzz he knew it was his six-year-old cousin, Little Eddie. Marco opened the door and yanked Eddie’s hand from the buzzer. Eddie hugged Marco and began to tickle him. He always did that. Aunt Norma came out of the kitchen, and Eddie stopped tickling to give her a kiss on the cheek. She asked why he was alone. He explained that his father had walked with him up the stairs but then remembered that he didn’t pick up the ice cream he was asked to bring. “Whatcha doin,’ gordo?” “Why do you say I’m gordo?” “Cause you’re the chubbiest kid I know.” “Where’s Freddy? Isn’t he coming?” “Yeah, he went with my dad. Let’s watch television.” “No, there’s going to be a party, stupid.” “Yeah, where? I don’t see hats or nothing.” “Mami has them hidden, so creeps like you don’t stomp on them.” They walked into the living room as Tina came out of the bedroom wearing a white dress and her long black hair in two pony tails. Mami’s outstretched hands pointed toward precious Tina as if introducing an act. “Well? Aren’t you two caballeros going to tell her how nice she looks? That’s what men do when a lady gets dressed up.” “She’s my sister.” “So what? She’s a girl.” “So what if I don’t like girls?” Mami’s eyes let Marco know he shouldn’t have said that. Reading into his mother’s look a violent reaction, he was ready to raise his arms in defense. But Mami simply shook her head as she grabbed Tina’s hand and led her to the kitchen. “My brother Freddy once said that, and my dad gave him a mean slap.” The door buzzed twice. Marco started for the door, but Eddie 102 The Duck 103 The Duck stopped him: “That’s just my dad. He always buzzes twice.” Eddie ran to the door, and Marco sat on the sofa. He remembered when he started imitating the way Carla walks his Mami got furious because “Boys don’t go around acting like girls.” Uncle Ed and cousin Freddy arrived, and Marco listened to the salutations and kisses and Ed’s “Oh how nice Tina looks!” Little Eddie jumped up and down, wanting to know what flavor ice cream they had gotten. Ed told him vanilla and chocolate and to calm...