After days of being in Puerto Rico, visiting. Araujo had sat in  her mother’s house. No car to go anywhere. Her mother had passed away, she was there to sell her things. She sat there, watching her Aunt’s soaps. Her Aunt was old and never wanted to go anywhere. No wifi, no anything. Araujo stared out her window onto the beach, she’d never been on.  She was born here,of course. -But she’d only ever seen the rainforest, many years ago. Her Step-Father had taken her. Araujo was 60, her Step-Father long gone. She longed to see him again. She stared at  an old photo of her trip to the rainforest.

She closed her eyes,calmy. When she opened them,she was greeted by the sound of chirping birds. She saw buzzing humming birds,her favorite. The smell of wet dew and hot fresh air soothed her. She ran her hand through her salt-and-pepper pixie and straightened her glasses.

SHE WAS IN THE RAINFOREST
The hummingbirds flew through the air with a leafy lei necklace and crown. They put them on her. She tried to push the birds away.  A butterfly came. She stuck out her finger. It landed on her finger. She smiled, remembering the time her Step-Father had brought her. A green,leafy gate of grass was right in front of her.  A man walked out,the bright sun covering his face. He walked into the shade.

“Mija! My princessa.” His face was clean shaven black-gray. The black-gray hair she loved so much. The hair she remembered.
“Papi!oh mi dios es que usted?  Is it really you?”
Araujo cried,fogging up her glasses. Her Step-Father adjusted her crown, and wiped her glasses with his shirt.
“Welcome to the kingdom.” Tia-Chai, her mother said, her arm wrapped around Papi. “We’ve missed you.”

“I. I. I’ve missed you too.” she opened her tear-filled eyes, she was sitting on the couch at her mother’s house, watching her Aunt’s boring soap operas, but she knew she’d gone somewhere.
“Te amo Mami y Papi.”  her parents’ photo smiled back.