“Hey, Uncle Junior.”
The listener paused with concern. Months had passed since he last heard the voice of his niece, Marie Diaz-Anderson. Marie was always perplexing to him. She always took her mother"s side whenever Jose Luis had a disagreement with his older sister, Maria Mendoza. Sometimes unabashedly so even if her mother was completely in the wrong. Perhaps, as a daughter, Marie was blinded by her love, or at least her desire for love, from her mother even if it meant betraying the other members of her extended family.
Fortunately, the rift between Marie and her mother had widened lately. Marie now saw things with new eyes and a fresh perspective now that her overbearing mother was out of the picture. Marie could think for herself and was no longer afraid to stand up for things that
