Echo

quickly, from a secure happy little boy to a resentful disobedient delinquent. He refused to interact with the Diaz family, unable to establish any sort of bond with them. He ran away from their home many times. Each time, Senor Brooks tracked him down and returned him. Whenever he saw Senor Brooks, he deluged him with questions and entreaties to let him go home. Senor Brooks became less and less communicative, closing the door on any of the hope Jose managed to hold on to.
    He began to wonder at the unusual coincidence of Senor Brooks finding him every time he ran away. What about the coincidence of Senor Brooks living in the U.S. now, just like him? Jose never received answers to any of his questions. He stopped asking to go home. Finally, the time came when Jose no longer burned with the desire to run away and Senor Brooks disappeared from his life altogether.
    Sometimes, being very young has its advantages. Mother Nature gave youth an astonishing ability to heal; physically and mentally. Slowly, the traumatized young boy’s natural curiosity helped draw him out of his bitter shell. He began to take comfort from the unrelenting warmth of Mama Diaz and her clan.
    The Diaz family welcomed him warmly. They even agreed to adopt him. He later learned that Senor Brooks moved the whole family to the country as a result of their agreement to take him in; their previous home, a tenement city fraught with danger and dead end opportunity for the kids, merely a distant memory.
    It had been overwhelming at first, of course. The Diaz children treated him like a new house pet. The two girls, Emma and chubby little Bonita aggressively staked their claim. They loved to dress him in their ragged finery, forcing him to play house. He became their prime choice, always the reluctant victim, coercing him to try their latest recipe of dirt cakes and sand scones. The two boys, Tomas and Hiro loved having him be their third against the blacks and the Muslims when they teamed up to play kick the can, touch football or just water tag down at the neighborhood swimming hole. Tomas always seemed to get a bit of extra pleasure whenever Jose took some extra hard lumps, though.
    Jose’s life took a turn for the better when Papa Diaz brought home a surprise from his job at the fabric mill, one of the few manufacturing concerns in the county. A very plum job and only achieved through the intervention of Senor Brooks, which caused quite a bit of resentment from other disgruntled applicants that were on the waiting list for the next opening. Papa Diaz was an outsider, after all.
    The puppy wandered onto the mill’s property during a lunch break. He reeked; a sad and dirty little guy. Tight, possibly white, curly hair all but obscured his intelligent needy eyes. His long tail wagged so much and so hard, it sported bald spots and painful bruises. Attracted by the smells and crumbs from the lunch crowd, he ran from person to person, begging for food. His starving body shivered with malnutrition, his ribs ready to pop through his paper-thin skin. Sores surfaced through his fur where the fleabites tortured him.
    At the end of the day, when the mill workers headed home from their shift, the pup lingered, trotting behind the exodus to the parking lot, his frantic tail crying, take me home, take me home. But no one responded. By the time Papa Diaz left for home, the deserted parking lot echoed the pup’s loneliness. He sat in the corner of the brick building in the weeds, shivering and discarded. As Papa Diaz came out the door, he froze, desperation written on his demoralized face. Hope rose, like a feather caught in the breeze, long ago discarded, now wafting forward. He sat frozen, only the hesitant motion of his eyes spoke of life as he watched Papa Diaz walk toward him. Papa Diaz stood in front of the pup as it silently looked up at him, too defeated to even beg. Bending down, he picked up the scrawny little guy, tucked him inside his overcoat and resolutely took him home.

    They named him Barney. It was love at first sight for Jose. The abandoned pup’s story reflected his own. He found in Barney the one thing that provided some medicine to draw the poison from his psychological wounds. No longer alone, their damaged souls began to heal as they found comfort and security in each other’s raw love.
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    The years passed. Jose grew, surprising everyone with his tall lanky good looks. He became reasonably popular in school, good grades coming easy.