Life along the border between Mexico and Texas is different from what it is most places, even other places around Texas and Mexico.  Depending on where you are along the border, life is sometimes hectic and even dangerous.  But regardless of where you are, life goes on there just like it does everywhere else.  The story I'm about to tell took place near McAllen, Texas, just miles from the border.  If you come here you'll find a thriving city instead of some dusty little border town - malls, resorts, palm trees, schools, a big university, and lots of nice housing developments.  Yeah, man, some really nice communities, and this is where little Lupe Sanchez lives.  That's not her real name, but no one needs to know that.  What's important is that Lupe is a seven year old girl who cared enough about her grandpa to write a letter to God.

Edwardo Gomez was born deep in Mexico seventy years ago, but he brought his family to Texas while still a young man.  He worked the orange and grapefruit fields of south Texas, did all sorts of other jobs, and raised five kids in the small town of Mission, Texas, which now is pretty much a neighborhood of McAllen.  One of his children, Sarah, married a man named named Sanchez, who in time became an established doctor over in Pharr, another town just on the other side of McAllen.  Lupe is the second child born in the Sanchez family, and she has turned out to be a special kid - you know, one of those youngsters with a personality that just reaches out and grabs you.  Lupe isn't rowdy or noisy, just a quiet little girl who likes to read a lot.  Like most people who read, she likes to talk about what she's reading.  Sarah saw early on that Lupe was a child who'd need some special attention, or at least more time because when she talks, she wants to be listened to.  Even as just a second grader, Lupe can easily read at a fifth grade level, and this makes her parents very proud.

About a year ago Lupe's grandmother Gomez died, and things changed around her house . . . a lot.  Lupe loved her grammy Gomez and was heartbroken when she passed away.  She was especially sad because grammy Gomez's passing made her grampy Gomez even more sad than she was . . . and it also made him grumpy.  
Grampy Gomez was a field worker, a construction man, and had spent a hard life working with hard men.  This mean that grampy Gomez had a vocabulary of words peppered with slang and curse words not often heard around the Sanchez household - until he came to stay for a while.  Lupe was absolutely shocked at her grampy Gomez's language, and noticing this, Sarah tried to counsel her father to mind his toungue when the children were around.  By that time, the Sanchez family had four children, two of them even smaller than Lupe.  

Old Edwardo said he'd try to do better, and he did, most of the time.  Since he didn't have anything to do other than just sit around the house, Edwardo took up watching television news and reading the newspapers.  He didn't read all that well, but he watched television well - and like lots of older people, he got into the habit of talking to the television.  Nobody knows for sure what Edwardo thought about government and politics until he came to live in the house with Lupe, but it became fairly obvious right quick that Edwardo was not a Republican.  That's not unusual because Repubicans aren't very popular down in the valley of south Texas, but no one expected Edwardo to have such pointed opinions about them - epecially about George W. Bush and his presidency.  Just saying that Edwardo detested him would be a gross understatement, and before long, he started talking out loud whenever the president came on television.  And when he did, he cursed a lot.  

This story has another little twist that needs explaining here.  Ever since grammy Gomez had passed away, Lupe had started acting strange whenever the phone would ring, especially if her grampy Gomez was around.  She would dash to the phone and snatch it up before he could get to it, then run off with it to another room.  Old Edwardo would just smile, shrug it off, and go on his way thinking no more of it.  Sarah, Lupe's mother, noticed this strange behavior and asked the child about it.  She didn't get a reasonable response from the kid, just some excuse about how she enjoyed talking on the phone.

And then one Monday, Sarah got a call from Father Hernandez down at St. Francis Church, asking to speak with her.  He also asked that Sarah bring Lupe with her when she came to the church for their meeting, and this Sarah did without question.  Once at the church, Father Hernandez took Sarah aside, away from the child for a moment, and then pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to her.  Sarah read it, then started laughing.  She laughed hard for a few moments, but before long her laughter turned to tears.  Father Hernancez comforted her, saying he knew how to handle the situation.  This is how Lupe's letter read:

Dear God,

This is Lupe Sanchez.  I live in Texas, and am a good girl.  I write you because my grampy Gomez has come to live with us, and he has the potty mouth real bad.

I write to ask a favor.  I know you can fix this.  Last year when my grammy Gomez died, the priest said she died because God called her home.  I miss my grammy Gomez a lot and wish you hadn't done that.  Please don't call my grampy Gomez just because he's got the potty mouth.  It isn't his fault.  He just does it because President Bush gets on television and says stupid things.

My mommy said President Bush is a moron.  She says he can't help it, and we shouldn't hate him.  I try not to, but I love my grampy Gomez.

In case you decide to do me the favor, here is a number for you to call:  1-800-000l.  

Sincerely,

Lupe Sanchez

It turns out that Lupe had left the letter at the church in the outbox the Sunday before.  Now it all made sense to Sarah why Lupe wouldn't allow her grampy Gomez to answer the phone - she was afraid it was God calling him home, just as he had done with grammy Gomez.  And she knew God surely did not approve of cursing, which grampy Gomez did a lot, and she wasn't taking any chances on phone calls.  But the kicker was that the kid had actually ask for a hit on the president, had actually suggested to God that he was the real problem, not her grampy.  

Sarah took the letter home and showed it to her husband that night.  She did it behind closed doors, but that didn't stop everyone in the house from hearing him burst into peels of laughter.  He laughed so hard that he too cried in the end.  And how could he not cry?  Anyone with feelings at all could sense the child's dispair, and now the problem was what to do to put Lupe's mind at ease.  How do you explain to a child that no one in particular is responsible for another pesons shortcomings?  Sarah and her husband took old Edwardo out to dinner that evening, then showed him the letter.  He didn't laugh, didn't cry either - just sat staring at it for a long time.  Finally, he looked up and said, "I have done wrong.  I will speak to my granddaughter about it."

And Edwardo did speak with Lupe, as had the priest, and the next Sunday at church the following letter showed up:

Dear God,

This is Lupe Sanchez again.  I did a mean thing.  Would you forgive me?  Please do not call the president.  Grampy Gomez says it's not his fault he has the potty mouth.  He says he will try harder to talk nice, and he won't watch the president on television from now on.

Sincerely,

Lupe 

P.S.  It's OK about grammy Gomez.  I understand now.


I could say more, but that would just spoil what has already been said.  I'm sure you get the picture.

D. Paz, 9/12/07