Panamanian's neighborhood will come alive from Fridays through Sundays. It was the norm. We had a recreational park, it had a soccer/baseball field and a basketball court. Concepcion hosted multiple communities sports tournaments per seasons. Soccer, then baseball then Basketball and sometimes even volleyball. We had huge inaugurations with dances and DJs. People came from every neighbourhoods to our inaugurations. It was the place to be. We were young teenagers and wanted to be slap in the middle of things. They took place on Sundays. First it was local teams then they'll have to play outsiders and it only got bigger and better and sometimes dangerous. Every team and communities weren't nice people. We had gangster teams from the hoods. Whenever Curundu or El Chorillo would have to play our best teams it ended up in a shooting, it happened during soccer season. Every one thought they were Pele' or Armando Maradona. Our best teams were great players but they weren't gangsters. So they could fight, but not with guns. Johnny was our Pele' his other love was soccer. He was an expert. He played in every championship, boy everyone wanted him in their team.
If you grew up in Panama you had to play some sort of sport. That's just the way it is. Most of these kids were born with this skills. My aunt Yira played every sport, she was a bit of a tomboy, she hung with the boys and played as rough as they did, nothing was a challenge to her. She was a good all American player. She too was good. Too bad she never finished school. She too was labeled a slow learner. Mila was the only book smart one. Juana went as far as 10th grade but got pregnant so she dropped out. I remember her trying to go to night school but never finished. She was feisty and was always fighting a teacher or a student. She still is. One of her daughters is just like her. A ticking bomb. Juana liked softball and volleyball. She played in the tournaments. She was good too. Mila just dressed up and attended the games. She was an entertainer. She was a charmer everyone loved her. Plus she was the French roll and nail lady. She never finished 10th grade either, which it was a shame because she had always been Leo's eyeballs so he bent over backwards for her she looked exactly like his mother. He had a picture of her. He overly loved him some Mila. She went to a private catholic middle school. She was the only one who got anything resembling a sweet sixteen party and a solitaire diamond ring. It is the customary. When you turn 15 you get a huge party and a diamond ring. No one in that house did, but Mila. Leo move hell and high water so Mila could get the very best of the best. Her Godmother help a lot with the school monthly payments, her specialty uniforms, the coolest shoes, the best hairdos etc. Mila ran the household even today. Her kids live there and run it too. She knew Leo had her back so she was disrespectful to grandma and got busted lips behind it. Mila was the queen though no doubt. Anywho, the weekends were lively back then.
The inauguration dances and championships dances were everything. We had to be there people were coming from everywhere we couldn't afford to miss it. Everybody that was anybody was going to be there. Grandma worked late shifts most times so we would take advantage of her not being home and go to the court. Leo would call grandma and complain, then they would send word by anybody to us for us to come home, we would play dumb, sometimes aunt Juana would act like she was looking for us to whoop us and sometimes she would tell grandma we was with her. It depend which moon it was. Leonel would let us be, he knew we weren't doing nothing wrong. Boris was salty, he would find us and embarrassed us we would get cursed out all the way home. Boris was and is grouchy so he was mad all the time and was "righteous", he grew up in the church, the nuns and local priest raised him he lived there with them. He was always embarrassed about his ratchet family. I was too, there was never a dull moment.
We knew a whopping was coming as soon as grandma got home. Yira had the greatest idea of putting two pairs of pants on plus card boards from old boxes to soften the whippings, we got away with that until my sister's cardboard fell off. Boy, we got darn near killed that day. We used that trick with everyone though before we got busted.
They all claimed we were out of control. Yira, my sister and I just wanted to enjoy a little freedom. We didn't have money, food or good clothes, we figured we could hang a little. Well we were going everywhere we could. It was contagious every body was outside having fun and they wanted us in the house early and stuff.
We couldn't attend the club's because they have an age limit. You have to be 18, and show your ID card. You can only get one of those when you're 18. We knew that so we just wanted to party locally. The basketball court was 10 minutes away from the house. How harmful was that?!!. Since the police did raids and sometimes we had curfews within the city, they didn't wanted us to get picked up, or to get to lose and end up pregnant. So logically grandma was scared to death. They assigned us some of everybody to watch over us. Leo decided he was not our dad so he told grandma he didn't care nor was he responsible for us, but would curse us out and call us names and sometimes throw us out. This is one of the reasons we got shipped everywhere. Leo would get ignorant and throw us out, next thing you knew we were sent to Veranillo. They said we were hot in the tail and hot with boys and was going to get pregnant etc. One of the people assigned to us was Mila's godmother's son. His name is Carlos, we call him Chichito. An exemplary guy. Zero tolerance, no foolery, everyone respected him, everyone thought the world of him he was a force to be reckoned with, he was a no nonsense kind of dude. He was mean and strict. We were scared of him. He would go find us, embarrass us then whoop us. We wouldn't even cry we had our boards. He grew tired of the task said we were hell. We just wanted to hang.
My grandmother's sister Antonia was a mean old hen. She would come with her son, sent him after us but he would end up watching the game with us. Then walk us back home. Tia Tonia as we call her would whoop our boards and she too grew tired. She started to like us and told Naty we weren't doing nothing wrong that Leo was exaggerating and she also dropped the duty. Everyone wanted a chance to disciplined us. We were growing up and got quicker than any of them. Mila would tell on us all the time. She had no rules in her life but would always have an opinion about us. Never a good input. It was so aggravating. We grew too big for whippings. From then on we got insulted and cursed out and called names only. Everybody found a way not to be in that house with grouchy cursing Leo. He was a miserable man, making every one miserable. If he wanted us there he should've been in a better mood. He was furious when he was broke. Those days we got kicked out and cursed out. When he had money he didn't say much. Overall he was always ticked off.
This is how we overcame whippings.
YOU ARE READING
I Remember
Non-FictionI decided to write this memoir for my kids. Kalina, Braylon and Bryce. I wanted them to know how I grew up and what all happened when I was a child. Maybe one day they can sit down and read this little book and remember MOMMA. I want to also apologi...
