‘La familia va a limpiar el’ cemetery

Era el weekend del Memorial Day y toda la familia was getting ready to go decorar las graves del los muertos in the cemetery.

Grampo Caralampio had gotten all the rastrillos, cabadores and palas ready in the back de la troquita. Canutito walked outside to watch him loading the rakes, hoes and shovels into the pickup. Then he watched as Grama Cuca salió de la casa con un bonche de artificial flowers in her arms, still wrapped en el plastic bag del WalMarte. Todos jumped into la troquita and drove para el campo santo, where they located las sepulturas of the familial dead.

Canutito ran around el campo santo looking a los nombres en las cruces at the head of each grave. He climbed on top of one of the grave mounds for a better view, cuando Grampo Caralampio called out to him: “¡Ei, m’hijo, cuidado! If you jump on top de la sepultura, the dead person lying there will come back en la noche and jalarte las patas.”

Canutito got off the grave and ran next to Grama Cuca, who was cleaning a grave. “Uh, grama,” he said, “what are you thinking about?” He noticed de que she had a smile on her lips.

“Ay, m’hijo,” grama replied,

“cuando vengo to the cemetery pa’limpiar las graves pa’l Memorial Day, I always remember una old story de una widow and her daughter who came to clean the grave of her dead husband.”

“And just what did la viuda y su hija do when they came to clean the grave, grama?” Canutito asked her.

“En esos días,” Grama Cuca began, “el cemetery was a dusty place, so the old widow put a garra — that is, una rag, on top of her head to keep the dust off. Pues she and her daughter came and started cleaning las sepulturas, pero her little girl didn’t know how to do it y entonces she asked her mom what she could do. Izque la viuda replied

que she should pray for the dead man while she cleaned the weeds and other mugres off the grave.

“Pero la little girl didn’t know what to pray, so le preguntó a su mamá ,‘¿ Mamá, qué rezo yo?’ Pero since que la muchachita couldn’t

pronunciar muy bien, her question sounded more as ‘¿Qué resolló ?’— ‘what’s that breathing?’ Pues la old lady thought de que su hijita was hearing al dead husband breathing y se puso toda nerviosa. She dropped her cabador and began hurrying away from the gravesite,

porque she was afraid that her dead husband was coming after her.

As she ran, the garra blew off from the top de su cabeza and fell to the ground. Her daughter, who didn’t know por qué her mamá

was running, called out, ‘¡La garra, Mamá, la garra!’ to indicate the rag had fallen off her head. Pero the old widow thought de que she was

gritando ‘la agarra, mamá’ — he’s going to grab you!’ Y entre más que

la old woman ran, the more the little girl cried out.

“As the old woman estaba stumbling por las weeds del cemetery, she didn’t notice de que there was a pumpkin vine among them. Pero la daughter saw her trip en la mata de calabaza so she yelled at her, ‘¡la mata, Mamá!’ — to indicate that she had tripped on a plant. Pero la mamá thought que la hijita

was warning her ‘he is going to kill you!’ Y entre más que she yelled, the faster que corría through the graves. She got home and locked la puerta.”

Canutito was laughing so hard he didn’t notice Grampo Caralampio sneak up behind him and grab him del ankle. He let out a cry, thinking de que un muerto had grabbed him del huesito sabroso …