But as he approached his father Sun he realized his mistake His father’s flames were far more powerful and stronger than anything else in this universe The nagual looped around his father speeding back toward his home but it was all too late His father’s fire had burned his eyes so he could no longer see Lita clicks her tongue Pobrecito blinded and moving so fast he could never slow down Never able to find his mother She sighs Now comes the part in all her stories where her voice becomes becomes lighter like she’s casually giving directions to the corner panadería So every seventy-five years he retraces the journey hoping to reunite with her She points again at the fire snake Close enough to sense his mother but never to embrace Except this time I say heat running up my back Yes she answers pulling me closer In a few days the fire snake will finally find his mother Y colorín Colorado este cuento se ha acabado she says ending her cuento I rub her hand over and over memorizing her wrinkles Who told you that story Your grandma Lita shrugs She told me bits I might have made most of it up I’m scared Lita I whisper She pats my arm But for a moment did you forget your troubles I don’t answer out of shame Her story had made me forget Forget about what could happen to her and everyone else Don’t you be afraid she says I’m not It’s only the nagual coming home 4 DONNA BARBA HIGUERA
I glance up at Fire Snake in silence I’m going to be just like you Lita A storyteller She sits up legs crossed facing me A storyteller yes It’s in your blood She leans in But just like me No mija You need to discover who you are and be that What if I ruin your stories I ask Lita cups my chin in her soft brown hand You can’t ruin them They’ve traveled hundreds of years and through many people to find you Now go make them your own I think of Lita and her mother and her mother’s mother How much they knew Who am I to follow them I clutch the pendant in my hand I’ll never lose your stories Lita You know the planet you are going to will have a sun or two also She taps her pendant with her fingernail Look for me when you arrive My lower lip quivers and tears fall down my face I can’t believe we’re leaving you She wipes a tear from my cheek It’s impossible for you to leave me I’m part of you You’re taking me and my stories to a new planet and hundreds of years into the future How lucky I am I kiss her cheek I promise to make you proud Gripping my obsidian pendant I wonder if Lita will watch the fire snake through the smoky glass when he finally reunites with his mother 5 THE LAST CUENTISTA
2 THE SHUTTLE FROM SANTA FE TO THE LAUNCH SITE IN the San Juan National Forest near Durango takes less than two hours A half hour of that time was filled with a speech from Dad explaining to Javier and me how we needed to stop squabbling squabbling be kind and work hard It seemed weird to me that the government specifically chose the Colorado forest instead of a military base But when I see the secluded roads and kilometers of dense forest I understand
stand Even three massive interstellar colonization ships meant for the exodus off Earth could get lost out here Pleiades Corp designed these luxury vessels to take rich people across the galaxy in comfort I’d seen their megascreen megascreen advertisements along hoverways showing a ship’s five star hotel interior Chandeliers with Pleiades Corp’s signature color royal purple illuminating the faces of actors in fancy clothes holding martini glasses and smiling as they stared out at a fake nebula A man with a voice like he gargled avocado oil each morning speaking over tinkling piano music Pleiades Corporation Reimagining what you thought interstellar travel would be Luxury living among the stars reserved for the adventurous elite I think of what the ships are now Those people on the megascreen with the bleach-toothed smiles were nothing like us scientists terra-formers and leaders the government thought deserved to live more than others And how did my family make the cutoff How did those government politicians choose What if Mom and Dad had been older How many of those politicians got a fast pass It feels wrong to be sneaking off Earth while so many are left behind They don’t even inform my parents of our destination destination until the day before Dad says Pleiades had been storing their ships in a massive underground facility at the old Denver airport they weren’t supposed to leave Earth on their first official official trip for another two years The maiden test flights into nearby space a few months earlier had been successful but because 7 THE LAST CUENTISTA
