Virgil Suárez
Christ of Tourette's Syndrome
"Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come here to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus
to the lepers in your head?"
- U2
We called him El Jeferson, because he pronounced
his name in Spanish: "Me Ilamo el Jeferson Fernández."
We beat him up during the basketball games in gym,
dragged him over the cement until his knees bled.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head and frothy
saliva webbed the corners of his mouth, then he'd start
to mouth all these curses in Spanish: "Putos! Jotos!
Pendejos! Putosjotospendejos! Putosjotospendejos!"
He'd say it over and over until we were all bent over
holding our sides trying not to choke on our own
laughter. We kicked him, spat on his hair, kicked
up dirt into his mouth. Then when the teachers
ran toward us, we took off over the fence. How many
truancies didn't we already have anyway? We only
came to school to kick Jeferson Fernández's ass.
"Tijuanero!" we shouted back at him. "Wetback!"
Some said the trouble with Jeferson started at birth
when his mother dropped him on his head, and we
loved to watch him twitch, and then start shouting:
"Hijos de puta! Hijos de puta! Putosjotospendejos!"
Tantric quality of Spanish words still aglow fire-red.
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