Page 5 of Demure
Sierra let out a sigh. “Mamá, I’m vegetarian now. I don’t eat meat anymore, remember?” No matter how many times she explained it to her parents, they never seemed to understand her new diet. And Sierra had been vegetarian for over four years.
“Ah,sí, I remember now. No meat.Sin carne.”
“Yes,Mamá,” Sierra responded, although she knew theywould have this exact same conversation in a few weeks. “How is everyone there? Is Cecilia still enjoying her classes?”
Cecilia was Sierra’s younger sister who had just started college in September at the University of Texas.
“Ah yes, yes, she likes her classes a lot! She just told me that she is preparing for anexamen final.”
Sierra dumped the pasta in the water before inquiring about her younger brother. “And Diego?”
Her mother made atsking sound through the phone. “He is in trouble again. I do not understand. Antonio was never like this when he was in school.”
Antonio was Sierra’s older brother by two years, and unlike her younger brother Diego, he had always been a model student. He had recently finished his law degree and was working at a private practice in the Dallas area. “Diego and Antonio are very different people,mamá. It’s not fair to compare them.” She reminded her mom.
“I know,Cariña, I just wish he would stop getting detention. His teachers think he will need to go to summer school to graduate next year.”
Sierra bit her lip. While she was glad her parents couldn’t visit her, she knew they had their hands full with Diego. For whatever reason, Diego had never seen eye to eye with her parents, an issue which had only increased as he entered his teen years. Now, at 16, he was practically unmanageable, and all her siblings had moved out, leaving her parents alone to deal with his shenanigans. “Maybe Maria can talk to him?”
Maria was Sierra’s older sister and the oldest child in their family. She had finished medical school and was a doctor in Fort Worth, the city right next to Dallas.
“I don’t want to bother her. You know she is busy at the hospital.”
Sierra stirred the pot, trying to think if there was anything else she could suggest to her parents. “Maybe the pastor at churchcould talk to him?” Just because Sierra was no longer religious didn’t mean that the pastor couldn’t help Diego.
“Church is one of our major arguments. I don’t think he will go.”
Sierra could hear the sadness in her mother’s voice. While she was sad she wasn’t there to help, Sierra also knew that this was one of the main reasons she lived abroad, to remove herself from the middle of these situations. “I don’t know what else to suggest,Mamá. Maybe you should just let him get in trouble? He might not be so proud when he doesn’t graduate with his friends next year.”
Her mom was silent on the other end of the line.
“But other than Diego, is everything okay there?” Sierra pressed.
“Ah,sí,sí.No te preocupes. Everything is fine here,Cariña, Diego will come around.”
“Okay,Mamá, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?” Sierra stirred the pasta again and looked at the clock. She would need to take it out soon, and she hoped to hang up the phone before then.
“What! I can’t call my middle daughter just for a talk?”
“Of course,Mamá, you can call anytime.” Sierra hoped her mom wouldn’t get worked up. She was always very dramatic, especially when it came to thinking her children didn’t want to speak to her. “I’m just a bit busy,Mamá. I’d like to hang up and finish cooking if you don’t want to discuss anything else?”
“I see how it is! You move abroad, and you are suddenly too busy for yourmamá. We will see how you feel when I am dead!” she snapped before the line went dead.
Sierra sighed, set her phone down, and drained the pasta. Her mom would get over it, she always did. But it still annoyed Sierra that she tried to play with her emotions like this. Holding her future death (which was at least 30 years away) over her head as if it would make Sierra sit down and spill her heart out to her mom.
The truth was that Sierra and her mom hadn’t been close foryears. Besides the vegetarianism, Sierra had also left the church, something which devastated her mom. She was convinced that just because she didn’t sit in a pew every Sunday, Sierra was now worshiping the devil.
Sierra hadn’t fit in with her family for a long time. Her older siblings were so successful, and Cecilia was on her way to join them, studying to be a psychologist. Sierra had been pressed to choose a prestigious study, as her siblings did, but in the end, it just wasn’t for her. In fact, most days, she felt she understood Diego better than anyone else in her family. It was difficult to live up to perfect older siblings, and at some point, she just wanted to do her own thing, even if it wasn’t considered a “successful” path—and upset her mother to no end.
Sierra scooped the mushrooms, butter, and onion into the pot with the pasta, stirring it all together. It was nothing gourmet, but it would do.
Thankful for the silence of her small apartment, Sierra dumped the pasta in a bowl and sat down at her table to eat. She kept her phone nearby as she ate, just in case her mother called her back. But she didn’t.
Her phone remained silent for the rest of the night.
Chapter Four
The next night, Sierra found herself in Mulligan’s pub surrounded by fans screaming at the TV where soccer, called football in Ireland, was playing.
