Boy sat down for dinner with his brothers and sisters and, although he was still quite young, immediately appreciated that what was on the table was meager. The half bowl of bean succotash looked sufficient for a single adult, but not nearly enough to fill the eight bellies that were vying for it, including that of two adults.
Everybody quietly looked at the single bowl of food on the table. Boy’s jefita, who was always the one who apportioned the servings, had not sat down yet.
“Let’s wait for you father to come home from work before we start to eat,” she said.
Minutes later, her husband’s pickup truck could be heard parking on the street in front of the house.
A minute later, he walked in and washed his hands in the kitchen sink. Then as he was about to sit down, he stepped back.
“Go ahead and sit down and start eating. I just remembered I didn’t have time to eat my lunch today. So, I’ll just to the troca (truck) and eat that,” he told his wife.
He then went outside.
“The girls first,” their jefita said and served them each two spoonfuls of the succotash.
Boy was next in the order, but he stood up and walked away before his jefita could get to him.
He then walked to the pickup. Seeing his jefito sitting stoically behind the steering wheel, Boy opened the passenger’s door and got in.
His jefito looked over a little surprised.
“Plegostia,” he said.
Boy didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t seem to indicate that he wasn’t welcome.
“You eat your lunch already?” Boy asked.
“Siról. A bean burrito. Finished it in two bites. But I have salt crackers left. Here, ponle,” his jefito said.
Boy took the crackers and quickly devoured them. He sat silently when he was done, imitating his jefito.
After a long while staring straight ahead quietly, Boy’s jefito looked at his son and nodded calmly.
“You get some beans?” he asked.
“Nel. I’m sick of them. These crackers are better,” Boy said cheerfully.
His father turned away and said nothing,
“You’re a plegostia,” he said after a long while.
“What does that mean?” Boy asked.
“It means you jump into a fire just because the person in front of you did it,” his jefito explained.
Boy didn’t understand. But he figured it had to do with following his father in walking away from the table so others could have more food to eat.
