Hendrick Does It Again

I walked down to the house to get Estuarto’s number from Ela. I saw Isabel in the yard; she was watching Hendrick and Fernandito play at the end of the driveway, nearly in the road. I walked up the three-cinderblock steps to Ela’s house, stood in the doorway and called  “con permiso”. Chochi, Ela’s younger brother who is living with Ela and her family while he studies for medical school, stepped out of the bedroom with the TV remote in his hand and into the light of the hall. “She went to church, she should be back in an hour”. 

I stepped back outside and found Isabel again. We caught up on life and watched the kids play in the fading orange light of the afternoon. I glanced over at her house and saw brown handprints on her peach-colored walls. I knew it was Hendrick immediately. “What happened with you wall?” I asked, assuming she had seen them before. Isabel turned around and when she saw the brown handprints took her breath in. She started in, “Hendrick! What did you do? You spotted my house? Is this what you like to do? Spot my new house? When your mother gets back you better stand up! When did you do this? You like to spot my new house with your hands?” The reprimanding stream continued to spill from Isabel’s mouth and towards the back of Hendrick’s head. He was sitting on a spare tire, his back towards us pretending to be a ship captain. I walked over to examine the handprints.

 From afar they looked like mud, not paint. I looked closely and saw that they were gooey. I touched one and the goo came off on my fingertip. “What is this Isabel? Mud? Putty? I don’t think it’s paint…”. Isabel finished her reprimanding and, taking a deep breath joined me at the wall. She, as well, touched her first finger to the gooey spots on the wall. She looked at it closely with a puzzled look on her face and then put her finger to her nose and said, “No! It’s choco-banano!” (Choco-banano is a favorite snack here in Guatemala. Take a banana and freeze it. Once frozen, dip it in a thin chocolate sauce. Choco-banano). I could not help but let out a small laugh. That Hendrick kid is pure mischief. Isabel again started in on Hendrick, who was now an army sergeant. 

I wondered where on earth Hendrick got enough choco-banano sauce to put a myriad of handrprints on his Aunt’s wall. After another minute of so, and with the back of her hand to her forehead she ended her punishment with a “Dios mio” and began to walk away. “Aye, cuesta, Katy. Dolor de cabeza. Cuesta!”.