Twenty-Five
At least once a year, Tristan traveled to Chile to visit his parents, and every time he had to adjust to speaking Spanish all over again. And every year, it seemed his accent got worse. This time, he had to get used to a lot of medical terminology that he barely knew in English.
From the Santiago airport, he took a taxi to the Centro Medico Nuestra Señora de la Paz, where he met his mother outside his father’s room. She clung to him, shaking so hard he worried she was having a medical crisis of her own.
“It’s okay, Mama. I just saw the doctor and he said Papa needs heart surgery but that he should come through it fine. He’s in good health otherwise. I guess all those years fishing paid off.”
But his mother just sobbed on his shoulder. His jacket grew wet from her tears. “I’
