“¡Josue!” said in a piercing low growl, usually followed by “¡Hoy te Pego!” is a phrase my mother was all too familiar with using. It’s a tornado siren of impending doom and the harm to come, except tornadoes are friendlier. First, the sharp hiss of my Hispanic birth name, “¡Josue!” with inverted exclamation mark and all! Then, the promise of harm to come: “¡Hoy…”, meaning
“today”, and “…te pego!” translating to “…will hit you!”
“¡JOSUE, HOY TE PEGO!”
or
“Joshua, today I will hit you!”
I’m very apt to blocking after eighteen years. I can endure a furious maelstrom of slaps and screams. Chupacabra has nothing on Mama Flores.
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