why he came over to his mother’s house as much as possible—to check her blood sugar level.
Diabetes was a problem that hit native New Mexicans hard, both Hispanic and Indian. More than 17 percent of the adult population had it. His mother was just one of them. He only wished she would stay more on top of it.
Gil opened the bag and took out an alcohol pad. He wiped the side of her index finger with it and then pulled out a small glucose machine. He set up a test strip and then asked, “Ready?” She nodded, and he pricked her finger with a sharp lancet.
“Oooch,” she said. “That stings.” It always hurt her. No matter how often he checked her BGL. He held the machine up to her finger, waiting for a drop of blood to fall onto the test strip. They sat still like that, frozen. Waiting for the blood. The machine beeped when it had enough blood and they waited again until the digital display read 70. It was a little low.
“Mom, have you eaten yet?” he asked.
“I’ll have something later,” she said.
If he had time, he’d sit with her to make sure she ate. As it was, he’d be pushing it.
“Mom, you have to have something to eat soon,” he said. “I mean within the next hour.”
“Okay, hito,” she said as she transferred some of the adovada into plastic containers.
Gil watched her for another moment before carefully storing the number in the machine’s history and kissing her good-bye. As he headed out the door, he said, “Have fun at the party.”
Lucy looked at her watch—8:30 A.M. She sat at a table at the Santa Fe Baking Company waiting for the waiter to deliver her breakfast burrito with extra green chile. The headache she had meant that she needed chile today. In Santa Fe, whenever you were hungover or sick—with anything from a cold to cancer—someone inevitably told you to eat green chile. Scientists all over the world studied its effects. The most recent report said if green chile was painted on the hull of a boat, barnacles wouldn’t attach themselves to it. Such is the power of green chile.
She also was waiting for Del to get back from the bathroom. She had called him last night after talking to Gil. She and Del had been doing this every so often for the past few months. He was a recycled boyfriend. She was conserving energy by taking to bed a man she already knew well instead of investing her precious natural resources in a new relationship.
They would pretend that he was coming over in the middle of the night to watch a movie, but that had quickly become code for hookup sex. Last night, they had made an effort to watch part of Superbad. From there things got hazy. She was sure she had offered to make margaritas at some point, but she was also positive she didn’t know how to make margaritas. They had woken up together in bed, twined in sheets that had wrapped around them during the previous night’s action.
Lucy glanced at the nearby community bulletin board, trying to read the flyers pinned to it. They mostly advertised the same types of alternative healing as the one at Denny’s. One flyer caught her eye. It was bright blue and said in bold black letters: THE MEDITATION OF RELEASE. Lucy thought of the prayer—actually, more of a plea—that she had put in Zozobra. The flyer went on to say, “So often in our lives we have old habits that hold us back. Meditation is one of the few methods that has been scientifically proven not only to reduce stress but also to help people overcome bad behaviors. We are a group of nurses who get together for the health benefits of this practice. Please join us for a class on Sunday, where we will teach you the basics of meditation with the promise that there will be no chanting.” Lucy smiled when she read the last line. She thought for a second about going to the class, but her attention became quickly refocused on the waiter delivering her breakfast burrito. She barely looked up when Del came back from the bathroom, but did manage to snuffle an acknowledgment to him.
He said, “Thanks for waiting,” as she smiled up at him. “So what have you been up to?” he asked. “I feel bad that we didn’t get a chance to catch up last night.”
She started laughing