Cowbird

Mr. and Mrs. Martinez were sleeping. In the corner of the room, in a crib, baby Pablo was sleeping. In the other room Silva and Linda were sleeping. In the living room, Ignacio and Andres were sleeping. No one heard the kitchen window slide open. No one heard the soft feet cross the kitchen and enter the bedroom. No one heard the said soft feet as they stumbled over Mr. Martinez's work shoes on the floor. The soft feet took their time proceeding to the crib. There, baby Pablo was lifted up, still sleeping; baby Pablo was a very good baby, not prone to waking and crying often. Something was put in his place. The soft feet then made their way, ever so softly, out of the bedroom and back through the kitchen. Then they were out the kitchen window and never heard again.

The next morning, Mr. Martinez was up early to go to work at the construction company, he was being considered for a promotion; he was a good worker. Mrs. Martinez was up early making breakfast. She had only glanced at Pablo to see he was still asleep. After starting the eggs she checked back in the bedroom. Pablo was awake. He was sitting up in bed staring at her. Something didn't seem right to Mrs. Martinez. For one thing, Pablo looked awfully pale. She picked the baby up, he didn't make a sound. She offered him her breast and he suckled voraciously. Mrs. Martinez squeaked in surprise. "Oh, my little Pablo, how hungry you are." She exclaimed, with a hint of trepedation.

After she finished making breakfast and Mr. Martinez sat down to the table, along with Ignacio who had too be to school the earliest, she showed him the baby. "I think something is wrong with the baby." "Oh, is he sick?" Asked Mr. Martinez without looking up. "We'll he is looking pale." "Hmmm, my grandmother was a bit pale, it didn't hurt her any," Mr. Martinez said with a crooked smile; abuela Cervatez liked to say she was descended from Cortez's top advisor. He smiled because abuela Cervatez had once called his wife's family 'farm people' and any reference to the old woman ignited his wife. "Hector!" Mrs. Martinez exclaimed. Mr. Martinez paused and looked at his child. "Does he eat?" "Well yes, he does." "Then he's fine, unless he starts turning blue, you shouldn't worry. Ignacio got up and poked the baby. It croaked at him and swung it's little baby hand agressively. "Ignacio!" Mrs. Martinez chastised.

Two years later, Pablo had grown to be quite a strange baby, but in no ways that could cause Mrs. Martinez to complain so she had just given up and decided to be proud of him. He was large for his age, pudgy and robust. He had pale skin and flashing hazel eyes. He was a talker and he loved to make demands. Mrs. Martinez told the other mothers that he was a handfull and she was regretting being pregnant with another. "The others were all so much easier, my little Pablo is just special, that's all." Ignacio did not like Pablo much. It was as if the youngest and the oldest were opponents in some game that the rest of the family was unaware of. They bossed around their siblings from either end of the age spectrum. Pablo made demands and enforced them imperiously with his eyes. Even his mother was afraid to find out what might happen if she disobeyed him. Ignacio complained that Pablo was getting all of the privilages and attention. His complaints seemed to be confirmed when the new baby died three months after birth. The doctor said that it was SIDS and that no one was at fault. Ignacio blamed Pablo and was spanked for his impertinance.

The bigger shock came when Linda fell ill and died. Pablo was only three at the time. Mr. and Mrs. Martinez both claimed not to have noticed how serious her illness was untill it was too late. The family was in mourning for nearly a month, but eventually it was little Pablo who pulled them out; it was just to difficult to mourn when the little prodigy was around. Pablo excelled when he entered school; he was pleasant to the teachers and demonic with the children. He was praised and feared. Teachers told Mrs. Martinez how special he was and his report cards pushed aside Andres' drawings and Silva's A papers on the refrigerator. Mr. Martinez brought him to work a few times and Mrs. Martinez enrolled him in music lessons even though the family really couldn't afford them. But the family did well in the end, Mr. Martinez got his promotion and was earning even more than he had expected. The only sore spot on the family image was Ignacio, who was getting into more fights at school and with his parents. One time he took Pablo to the park and left him. When Mrs. Martinez found out she nearly had a panic attack; she rushed to the park on Ignacio's bicycle. She found Pablo happily playing with some other children. He was holding a toy truck in each hand while two other boys watched when his mother found him. Mrs. Martinez carried him away in an unintelligable cloud of sobs and exclamations. The other boys dismally watched as their trucks departed.

At seventeen Pablo became homecomming king, a considerable accomplishment at his predominantly white highschool. He was less forward in his attacks on his peers; he still got his way, but he rarely used physcial force anymore. At home he was the undisputed focus of the family, Ignacio had run away long ago and his name was no longer spoken at the dinner table. There had been thoughts of Pablo follwing his father at the construction company, but it was evident that Pablo was meant for something greater. He had a scholarship to a University in the big city and if his parents were very carefull with how they spent they could just manage the rest of his expenses. Andres had a just taken a job at the local Econo-lube and Silva had married an older man at the urging of her mother.

Mr. and Mrs. Martinez came home one evening to discover that their house was empty. Mr. Martinez pointed out with a smile that Pablo wouldn't fail to be felt as long as his bills came in. And they did, for four difficult years Mr. Martinez worked long hours at the construction company. They didn't see much of Pablo once he went away; just enough, it seemed, to keep his face fresh in the minds of his parents.

And after four years Pablo vanished. As secretly as he had entered the lives of the Martinez family, he left; not another word was heard from the promising son. Mrs. Martinez cried, Mr. Martinez lost his hair. Ignacio died in Cleveland, Andres took cocaine, and Silva had five children.