The Roosters outside the house give a few loud gritos to wake up everybody from el Pueblo of Churinzaro, Michoacán and tell us that it is time to wake up and get ready for the day’s work. I check the clock in the room it’s about 5 in the morning, good time. I work everyday in the cerro outside of el pueblo from 6 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon , sometimes we leave earlier or later depends on how much is the day’s work. Everyday after work me and my friends go to Don Juan’s tienda and buy 2 caguamas for each of us and we hang outside the store until it’s about to be dark and we go to our homes. I have repeated this cycle for about 2 years , now I’m 15, it’s 1984 and today my brother Beto has just came from the U.S.

“You don’t say hi to me anymore.” my brother told me .
“ Sorry Beto, how is the U.S?” I asked him
“It’s great , the work is better over there than here. You should come to the U.S and work to help our parents.”
My mother heard our conversation .“ Rosalino ven para aca.”
“What happen mom” I asked her.
“You know I don’t want you to go , but we need you to go.” she said.
I looked into her hazel eyes the same as mine and i could see the sadness she did not want me to go but i had to go for the money. “I know Mom, but i want to go though.”

So it was agreed a few days from now, I would be on my way Tijuana to meet a coyote, pass the border , go to San Diego, and take a plane to San Francisco where I would meet my father and brother, all easier said than done.

We woke up early, even before the roosters and I said my Goodbye to Mother, my sisters and my younger brother. Me and Beto drove to Tijuana, where we were looking for a coyote to help me pass. We did find one , he didn’t tell us his name but just to call him “Uno”. We only brought half the money to pay him because that’s all we had so we would have to get the rest someway ,somehow. Me and Beto spent the week working and selling items to raise up the rest of the money. I was getting desperate and started stealing from some of the rich by grabbing their wallets or waiting at the banks to see if they left some, I didn’t tell Beto. We finally had the money and payed the coyote, the next day we were going to the border.  My brother was leaving back to the U.S and told me he would pick me up at the airport in San Francisco. The next day me and the coyote left tijuana and headed to the part of the border that is south of California.

“This looks like a good spot to rest for the night.” said Uno who was pointing to a big tree that had a lot of shade and bushes around it.

“ That will do.” I said looking at the tree. He was very dark like If he was in the sun all day, he was tall, bulky , and he had old clothes on with a ripped hat. He was about 24.
“ Now, here is the plan kid, we are going to wake up around 3am because that’s when there is less Patrol on duty. Once we pass them , the border and everything and make it to San Diego, I’ll give you your U.S documents, ID, and passport and from there we split up. Got it.”

I shook my head “Got it.”

“Now before we do any of this here are the coyote rules. 1) When we are out there don’t be making noise because I will leave you. 2) If we do get spotted it’s every man for himself, and if you get caught, I do not know you and if I have to I will get out of there and not comeback , just being honest so you know what to expect. 3) If we do make it to San Diego successfully, this never happened you and me never met, clear?”

“Yes, I understand.” I said.

I Couldn’t sleep for a little thinking about all the outcomes and asking myself the questions, Will I get caught?, Am I going to die here? , and most importantly If I do make it, how will my life be? Uno woke me up a few minutes before 3 am and told me to carry all necessary stuff and to follow his every lead and to not talk to him, if we needed to communicate he would use hand signals. So we were off in to the night, to me it took forever until we were beside that wall. We were yards away from the Border Patrol, so with some Hedge clippers Uno brought he was cutting the Little pieces of Fence on the border to make a hole for us to squeeze in. It took a few minutes and we finally squeezed our way into in America. Once in America we could see the Border Patrol truck coming in our direction , so we hide into a hole that was next to a bush. We are waiting for the truck to pass by, but then I feel this pain that I never felt on my face and screech in pain.

“Ahh, hijo de su puta madre!!!”. I yell as a border patrol dog has bitten my left cheek.

Uno gets up in a rapid motion and kicks the dog in it’s neck, it’s dead. “Watch out, you almost got us caught!” He whisper/yells at me.

“Well I’m fuckin sorry, that the dog almost bit my face off.” I said while my left cheek was throbbing.

“Hurry up let’s get going , if the dog was here then the owner must be close.” Right as he said that, something tackles me and I’m on the ground and Uno starts running out of there. A Border patrol officer has a gun pointed to my head.

“ What are you doing here?, Do you want to die kid?” he yells at me.

I’m too scared to say answer ,but i grab his gun and smack him the face with it and point it at him.

“ You don’t want to that kid, there is patrol all around , they’re coming for you and you are going to spend your miserable ,pathetic , ass in Jail.” As I think about it, he charges at me and my instant reaction is to shoot *bang*. I shoot him in the middle of his forehead.

For a few moments I just stand there realizing what I’ve done and I sit next to him thinking I just killed this man, a life, a soul gone. I think about what if he had a family, they’ll be waiting for him to comeback, he never will and made me think about me. My family would expect me to comeback and I almost didn’t. I brush off my emotions and bury this man in the hole we were hiding ,with his dog. Uno comes back running to me.

“ What happen, where is he?”

“ I buried him in the hole.” I said.

“ You killed him!”

“ I had to or he was going to kill me.”

“Wow you got some balls kid, but let’s keep going before anymore of them show up.”

So we were on the road for a few more days, just walking and taking some rests. Our food supply was running low but he kept saying we are almost to San Diego. Unfortunately our water supply did end and we could not find any resource of water. Uno was getting very desperate to drink anything in this 100 degree heat and did the unthinkable, he drank his urine. I could not seem do it because , I would get thirsty and we had nothing. 2 days of  still seeing nothing but road I couldn’t no more , I was falling because of the heat, I couldn’t feel my head, my tongue desperate for any liquid. I grabbed an empty bottle and was starting to urine in it until Uno stopped me.

“Look there it is, beautiful  San Diego.” He said while being all wobbly ,you would think he was drunk. “ Here is your U.S documents , passport, ticket to San Francisco and your ID, Welcome to America Jose.” He said with a chuckle.

I Grabbed all the things he gave me. “Thank you Uno, I don’t think I could’ve survive this without you and thank you for not ditching me.”

“Well you weren’t an annoying little bitch, so it was hard to ditch .” He said Laughing and he went the opposite direction as me and I never seen him again just like this journey never happened.

It took some time but I found my way to the San Diego Airport. I found some people who spoke Spanish who were attending the same flight as me and they could help me where to go. You could tell they were surprised to see 15 year old kid in the airport by himself only speaking Spanish and no English. When I got on the plane , I was in coach but it felt like first class to me. I had my own chair, a mini tv, a flight attendant who asked me what I wanted to eat , and a bathroom. This was way better than walking for days. We landed in San Francisco about 2 hours later. I think to myself well it seems as San Francisco was closer to San Diego than the border to San Diego. I get off the plane , go to the terminal and I Look around and I don’t see my dad or Brother. I wait there for a few minutes , they don’t show. I walk around the whole airport, I can’t find them anywhere. I’m still looking for them in an hour until someone grabs me by the shoulder.

“Rosalino, where have you been?” Beto asks me.

“ Looking for you and dad.”

“We were looking for you though.” said my father.

“ Well I was looking around the whole airport and couldn’t find you guys.” I said confused and annoyed.

“Doesn’t matter anymore Lino , good thing is that you’re here , ugly and dirty but here.” Said my father hugging me.

“ So how it’d go ?” asked my brother.

“ Well , I’m surprised y’all don’t see the bite mark on my cheek and I almost got killed so.”

“ HOW?” both of them exclaimed.

“I’ll tell you guys on the road.”