Boy

By Elizabeth Guzman

Wash the car on Monday and put the rugs to dry in the blazing sun; on Tuesday wash the interior and vacuum every last speck until the metal shines; don’t allow your woman to walk on the street; let your woman cook you platanos and eat every crumb; be sure to soak your clothes after a hard day of labor; is it true that you fell asleep during Sunday mass?: be ready to receive that beating if you step out of line again; always speak with confidence so that those around you feel your manliness to the core; on Sundays walk like a man and not the pájaro you are so bent on becoming; you mustn't speak to loose women on the street, not even to give directions; don’t give into gambling -- debt will follow you, but I don’t fall asleep in public at all and never in mass; this is how you build muscle; this is how you utilize the muscle you have built; this is how to wear clothes and wear them in such a way so to prevent yourself from looking like the pájaro you are so bent on becoming; this is how you take out the trash when your mother asks; this is how you grow a business and invest so that you can bring bread back to the home or else you will bring shame upon your family; this is how you push down your emotions; this is how you protect your family; this is how to be respectful to a woman you don’t like; this is how you to be respectful to a woman you do like; this is how you be dominant; this is how to  win every competition; this is how you take responsibility; this is how you change the tire; this is how you make your voice deeper ; this is how you behave in a locker room, and this way they wont recognize immediately the pájaro I have warned you against becoming; be sure to pay for every date, even if you don’t have a dime to your name; don’t wear nail polish-- you are not a girl, you know; this is how to treat a woman, this is how a woman treats you; but what if the girl doesn't want to be with me? ; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of man who the girl won't want to be with?