Manny was my older sister’s first husband. He used to be a God-fearing man and what I thought a good man was supposed to be.
He was a member of the SDA church, son of church committee members and an active youth group leader.
He used to be so nice! He would serenade my sister with her favorite Elvis song.
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See, he looked, sang and danced exactly like Elvis. He even had that Elvis-the-pelvis action that drove the girls crazy.
He would sing a lullaby…
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so my two-year old sister would fall asleep. He was even super nice to my brother and I. Every Tuesday night he would take us to see a Karate movie. I saw ‘Fist of Fury’, ‘The Chinese Connection’ and even ‘Enter the Dragon’. He would tell the usher that I was his son, so they would let me in. Strange though, I don’t recall any interaction with him and my seven-year old sister – I wonder why.
He really cared for us and everything was great – or so we thought.
My sister would always complain about Manny being too agressive, but we never saw it. That is until the other day. He got into another fight with my sister, this time while everyone was home. My parents ran upstairs to see what the banging was all about. He would not open the door, so my father charged into their apt and saw him holding my sister by a choke hold, with her neck high up against the wall. My father attacked him and they fought together – all the way down the stairs.
At the base of the stairs, the whole family was on top of him. My brother pounding at his back; my mother beating him with the broomstick over his head; me biting his ankles; and my two younger sisters screaming franticly. We all got him good – no one dares lay a hand on my sister!
Suddenly all he could do is to try to get away. He punched my dad, pushed my mother and brother away and kicked me across the hall into the wall. I lost conscienceness for a few seconds because when I came to, everybody was gathered over me – including him. I was gasping for air and could not breath.
You could see the rage bulging from his soft, blue eyes. All of a sudden a frown of sorrow struck his forehead when he realized what he had done. He stands up and bolts out the door into the dark of the night. That was the last time I saw him.
But it was also the first time that I realized that we are one as a family. No matter what the murky waters of the Bronx would throw our way, one thing was crystal clear – No one would stand between us. Our family is one.
