Fate is a Funny Animal

After multiple unsuccessful attempts to flee his country, Jorge hoped his exhaustive attempts to set foot on American soil had ended, allowing him to move into phase two of his plan. Since losing his wife to breast cancer, he had been singularly focused on bringing his young daughter, Delilah, to America where she would have more opportunities with a better chance of surviving the genetic curse that had taken so many women in her mother’s lineage. Jorge was not poor, but had simply not earned enough money to cover his wife’s treatment. After losing his childhood sweetheart, he became laser focused on a trajectory that would change his daughter’s destiny. Having been denied legal channels to American citizenship, he decided his only option was to become an undocumented immigrant, work hard, and earn the right to bring Delilah to America where they could become citizens.

Feeling relieved about leaving the underground tunnel, but anxious about setting foot on the soil that laid the foundation for the next phase of his journey. He took a long deep breath and slowly opened the earthen hatch to find an empty field of sparse decaying brush. A tall sturdy fence stood in between Jorge and a dilapidated barn in the distance. Peering into the night, he realized that he had not taken into account the cycle of the moon, which now offered a soft night glow to the terrain. Shivering with incomprehensible emotion, he exited the tunnel. He wanted to just stand still, take in the crisp night air, the sound of the crickets and whip-poor-wills, and offer gratitude. But he was acutely aware that now was not the time to celebrate.

The barn was a serendipitous find, given that he needed to rest and gather his wits before finding his way to a community of immigrants who would help him navigate this new world. So, he sprinted across the field toward the barn, scaling the fence with ease. Just as he hopped the fence, he saw the lights of a border patrol truck, so he picked up the pace until he found a hiding place. Paralyzed with fear, he watched the border patrol agent stop his truck at the fence. His companion dog sniffed around a bit and began to bark. The agent climbed to the top of the fence with a pair of binoculars to scan the field. However, he lost his balance, falling backwards, and seeming to curse his lack of athleticism. Jorge cringed, hoping he would not need to hop anymore fences in his future! In his haste, the agent did not notice that something fell to the ground when he tumbled off the fence. Jorge assumed that it was a wallet. Now, Jorge had never stolen from anyone but he knew that a wallet with money would buy him passage to the community he needed to make his way to.

He watched for hours to learn the pattern of the timed patrols. After several passes, Jorge decided it was safe to head back to the fence to retrieve the wallet. As he approached the fence, he got down on his belly, stuck his hand underneath and began to feel around for the wallet. After some effort, he retrieved a little black book rather than a wallet. Dropping it into his knapsack, he sprinted back in the direction of the abandoned barn where he would take shelter for the night.

That night he drifted off to sleep, feeling grateful that he had made it this far and full of faith that the next days would deliver opportunities to make his dream a reality. Just as he did every night, he promised his daughter that he would bring her to America and asked his wife to guide him to make the right decisions, just as she had done when she was alive. She had been his reason for living since they were teenagers and he promised her that he would take care of their daughter. However, he missed their talks in which she had always assured him he would make the right decision. Her perfect faith in him had given him faith in himself. Jokingly, he reminded her that she started all this and he needed her to hang around to help him finish it.

The next morning, he woke to the sounds of nature. His excitement was gone and he felt a wave of uncertainty wash over him. He reached into his knapsack for a protein bar and felt the little black notebook he had deposited there the previous night. As he savored the flavor of chocolate and peanut butter, he opened the black notebook. While he did not speak fluently, he could comprehend both written and spoken English. The story held within would capture his attention for the next several hours.

The black notebook was a journal full of dates with a detailed accounting of the experiences of a woman’s life, leading up to her last days on earth. For hours, Jorge read words that took him on a deep poignant emotional journey. There were times that the story resembled his own experience, and he began to weave and wobble in between the reality of this woman’s story and his wife’s. The journal told a sad tale of a broken man who first lost his son due to a farming accident and ten years later had lost his wife to breast cancer. He had become despondent and his relationship with his remaining daughter became strained as he tightened the reins on a spirited girl ready to leave the small farming community and begin her life. It was clear the daughter had understood the intensity of control that her father exhibited had been related to his desire to protect his only remaining family member. She had been very conflicted because she loved her father dearly but this was a side of him that was unfamiliar to her. She had left for college, hoping that some distance would help him see that she was a very capable young woman who did not feel afraid of the world. After her mother’s death, she refused to waste another minute of living! She was willing to roll the dice to see what happened.

Her father had become bitter and depressed during her first year at college, so they took an unintentional thirty year break from each other. He feared she was taking unnecessary risks and she felt he did not have faith in her ability. Then in her senior year, she learned she was pregnant. Fearing his continued disapproval, she never found the right time to make amends with her father. That was her one clear regret as she began to divulge that she was in hospice care, reviewing her life through the words in the journal. She, too, had breast cancer. Over the years, she had married and divorced but the constancy of having a daughter as a best friend and business partner had caused her to recognize the importance of family. She recounted her illness with words that grabbed Jorge by the heart, how difficult it must be to miss that final touch or look when a loved one is preparing to leave this world.

Jorge closed the book as he read the last words written “Please know that I was headstrong and now see there are many ways we might have handled all this better, but we made choices and, perhaps, there were reasons we could not see, at the time. Fate is a funny animal! I have always loved you, Dad. My days are short now and Ruby is at my side most of the time, so it becomes more difficult for me to write the end of the story. My hope is the story will not end until Ruby gets this book at the reading of my will and that she will reach out to you. I hope you will be there to catch her and help her finish the story. Catch her like I believe you intended to catch me. I did not need to be caught but she will, she is so much like you. Maybe, Dad, the reason you had to go through such pain and bitterness was to heal yourself so you could help Ruby heal. Maybe, just maybe, there was a purpose in sacrificing our relationship, after all. I will take my last breath in a few days and the prayer that will be carried on that breath is for you and Ruby to find each other.”

In addition to the notebook, there was a sealed letter that had not been opened. Somehow, Jorge could not bring himself to open the letter. He was perplexed at how he could have traveled so far to find a story meant for a man who had the power to send him right back across the border. Still, he could not help but wonder how he could ignore a story about a man who lost his wife to breast cancer, his daughter to shame, and had never met his granddaughter.

As Jorge finished reading the journal, he fell into a deep sleep. He dreamed of his wife and she spoke familiar words to him, “I know you will do the right thing”. He was awakened by the sound of a truck around 3pm. Peering out of a broken window, he saw the border patrol truck and saw the same agent scouting the area where he had attempted to climb the fence. Jorge knew he had to risk more than he wanted but the journal belonged with that man and he would have to accept whatever consequence doing the right thing would bring. Jorge was unsure of why he was being presented with this choice but he knew the right thing to do was to return the notebook to the agent.

So, he took a deep breath and stepped out of the barn with his hands, clutching the black notebook, over his head. He began to walk toward the agent, calling out to him in broken English. He had learned from the book the agent’s name was Martin. Reassured that Martin did not have a gun pointed at him, he walked slowly calling out “Mr Martin, I have you book, I have your book, Mr Martin”. When he was within several feet, Martin was standing there perplexed at how this stranger with broken English knew his name. Then he saw the book he lost the day before.

The men stood on either side of the fence, eyes filled with tears for different reasons. Martin was relieved to have the final words of his daughter returned and Jorge knowing that he would be sent back. However, something miraculous happened when Martin asked him why he risked being caught just to return a book and unopened letter. By the time Jorge was done telling his story, they were no longer American and Mexican. They were just humans who shared the pain of loss.

These two men recognized that something bigger was happening here and Martin told Jorge that he would like for him to spend the night in his home, take a shower and have a decent meal before taking him to immigration the following day. However, he did not take him the next day, or ever.

That night Martin finally got up the courage to open the sealed letter from Ruby. Jorge was invited to stay on as Martin’s employee. Three months later, Martin’s grand-daughter came to visit. She was an immigration lawyer who immediately pledged her commitment and $20K to help Jorge bring his daughter to America. Many things just seemed to magically fall into place and five years later, Jorge and Ruby, now married, were preparing to send Delilah off to college. They had become a modern family and Martin was the first to tell Delilah that she was strong, courageous, and the world was a candy store of opportunity for her…as long as she promised to return home from time to time!