"So let it be written. So let it be done."
In which Teófilo reminisces about the rest of 1972, movie-going, and the death of a famed Puerto Rican baseball star.
Starting my second grade at la Academia in 1972 was uneventful. I remember my home room teacher's name: Mrs. Everlidis Lizasoaín de Maldonado. I don't remember much about that school year. I recall I passed with all "A's." It was the first school year in which I understood the value of an "A" and the bragging rights that came with it. I'm sure I exercised those rights extensively. This was also the year I began accruing cruel nicknames, as my schoolmates reacted to my bragging. I'll spare you the list, but I assure you all the monikers highlighted my nerdiness.
Mom had started university again. Papi gave her the money for registration. I don't recall which classes she took but I did inherit her history textbook. This book started me down the path of loving history as a subject. I loved reading about people, places, and events past.
Movie-going
Mom started to take me to the movies right about this time. We would go to the Fox Delicias Theatre right across from the central town plaza. Today the Fox Delicias is a boutique hotel.
Mom would also take me to the old Teatro Rívoli or to the Teatro Santa María. Today the former one is close, and the latter is now an office building. You can say I started my life-long fondness for movie-going during this time.
The Ten Commandments Experience
I remember watching The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston at the Fox Delicias. We first went to an 8:00 show one Saturday evening, but Mom stood in horror when they told her the movie was four hours long. She exchanged the tickets for a 1 PM show the next day.
You may expect a 7-year-old fidgeting throughout a long movie. I did, I'm sure. But the movie intrigued me, even though it tired me to reach the Spanish subtitles. The first scene that impressed me was of Moses meeting God for the first time. The light mesmerized me, and I did not perceive the Burning Bush. Also, the translators chose to present God's speech using Gothic script. I never finished deciphering the script before the next line of dialogue followed.
Of course, the parting of the Red Sea impressed me greatly as well as the giving of the commandments. I didn't know the expression back then, but I saw God "kicking butt." I would spend countless hours drawing and crayoning these scenes long after the fact.
Of all the scenes my memory recorded that I remember until this day was the bit where Moses crashed the tablets. You know the one. The earth opened, and the golden calf and the gaggle of idolaters feasting about it fell into a chasm.
I got it inside my head that if I slammed Papi's Bible onto the ground I would get the same effect. I thought I would see the ground opening and other spectacular fireworks. His Bible was a thick family volume with black covers Titi Geno had gifted him in the late 50's.
I decided to perform an experiment. I borrowed the Bible and climbed to a high point in one of our concrete fences. When the time came, though, I chickened out. It was the first time I experienced a religious taboo. The Bible didn't suffer the ignominy and I saved me a sin from future confession. Today, the Bible is safe and sound, sporting new covers, inside a wooden bible box in my home prayer corner. It still bears the pencil marks Papi used to highlight his favorite passages.
Other Movies
Mom would also take me to watch musicals in Spanish. Movies starring the Spanish singer Rocío Dúrcal took pride of place. La Novicia Soñadora is one I remember with fondness to this date. I still remember many of its musical numbers. In fact, and without me knowing it, this was the first time when music touched my heart. Thus, this was an arising and a convergence of those I talk about throughout these memoirs. Soon after that music and I would become inseparable.
One other movie I remember was Melody, the story of two British school-age kids who fell in love. The movie theme song, Melody Fair, would become a Bee-Gees hit that year. From this movie I learned that boys and girls my age could fall in love. Yuk! Why? I would find out later...
End of the Year Tragedy...and a Portent of Things to Come
The year thus continued with its high and lows. On the morning of January 1, 1973 I would wake up to a headline in El Mundo newspaper: Fallece Clemente (“Clemente Dies”). Puerto Rico's own Pittsburgh Pirate, Roberto Clemente had died in a plane crash the day before. He was on the way to Nicaragua carrying relief for earthquake victims. That was the first time I learned of him. By then too, baseball was the first sport I began to follow and understood. The news about the recovery operations dominated the newscasts for days after.
The year 1972 was the year I remember with most fondness in my relations with Mom. Despite her increasing narcissism and the abuse - for these have not gone away - I learned to cherish her "normal" times. She was easy to talk to, and fast to laugh. She could also be tender. This was also the year she asked me if I wanted a brother or sister. I answered yes without knowing what it meant.
The year 1973 would prove to be another transformational year. We would face much suffering, and my view of Mom would change again.
Bonus Videos
Melody Fair by the Bee-Gees.
Vivir, vivir, vivir (“To live, to live, to live”) a song from La Novicia Soñadora.