{"id":2209,"date":"2013-10-07T02:18:50","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T02:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=2209"},"modified":"2017-10-28T03:37:11","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T03:37:11","slug":"la-llorona-y-luna-by-tammy-boehm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/la-llorona-y-luna-by-tammy-boehm\/","title":{"rendered":"La Llorona y Luna by Tammy Boehm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"moon\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

La Llorona y Luna<\/h1>\n

by Tammy Boehm<\/p>\n

A phantom moon crested against the billowed clouds riding the wake of the storm\u2019s ebbing rage. I crouched, shivering as the moon shed light but no warmth in my temporary shelter. I\u2019m not that far from your door\u2026<\/i>Coaxing my weary muscles to move, I rose from my crouching position and willed myself to stand straight. Burnished cottonwood leaves in soggy clumps muffled my cautious steps as I made my way from the bosque to the arroyo behind your yard. It seems like years since I\u2019ve seen you. <\/i>Warm wood smoke and roasting chile wafted through the damp air. My mouth watered as I thought about those fireside evenings with you curled up in my lap, picking meat from the posole and begging for sweet carameled flan. mi ni\u00f1a preciosa, me largo para poner mis brazos alrededor de ti. <\/i>With trembling hands, I smoothed out my drenched shirt and ran my fingers through my dripping hair before lifting the knocker and tapping\u2026one\u2026two\u2026three\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA la machina, Paqui if you don\u2019t let me sleep I swear I am going to kill you!\u201d Rosa grabbed her pillow and brought it down hard against Pasqual\u2019s snoring face.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is wrong with you, woman?\u201d Paqui batted the pillow onto the floor, startling the cat who yowled in discontentment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThat! Between your snoring and your stupid screaming cat, I am up all night. No sleep! Nothing. Just a chain saw and the cat from Hell. Would you please get up and put her hairy butt outside so she can shut up?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cRosa, te amo, the cat has been sleeping on the bed all night. I know because you been kicking me since I got in here. Arms and legs flapping! Its like sleeping with a couple of pit bulls fighting under the sheets. You need valium, man. Serious valium.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you need to stop doing shots before you to sleep because then maybe you\u2019d hear your crazy cat screaming and scratching on the front door. Every time it storms that Chulita is yowling and digging her nails into the door. And you are lying there drooling. Go, Paqui. Go look at my door.\u201d Rosa planted a foot against Pasqual\u2019s rib cage and dug her toenail into his exposed flesh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cY hola, alright. I\u2019m up.\u201d Pasqual stumbled down the hallway to the entry door, cat in tow. \u201cWhat the Hell, Chula? You can\u2019t use the kitty door? Have to go out the front like you don\u2019t even live here? Your Highness? With a flourish of his hand, Pasqual opened the front door and waved the cat outside. Chula hissed, flattening her ears against the side of her gray skull and puffed up to twice her normal size. \u201cOh shut up.\u201d Pasqual nudged the hissing feline out and gently shut the door. He padded back to the bedroom he shared with Rosa, and slipped into bed beside her. \u201cThere, the evil kitty, she\u2019s outside. Its damn cold out there too. You happy? She\u2019s all freaked. Hissing and stuff. You\u2019d think there was a monster out there waiting to eat her or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, whatever. As long as she doesn\u2019t scream anymore tonight.\u201d Rosa nuzzled against Pasqual<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019re crazy, Mamacita. Too many stories about La llorona, and you gotta blame my cat.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOh yes, La Llorona. She\u2019s coming for you, Paqui. Can you feel her icy arms pulling you into the arroyo? Pasqual, Pasqual, mi nino!\u201d Rosie wrapped her arms around Pasqual as they drifted off to sleep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mi nino<\/i>, did you not hear me knocking? How I miss you\u2026I put my freezing hands up to your door one more time but had no strength to call your name\u2026Pasqual\u2026my child\u2026I cast my eyes to the brilliant moon\u2026Estas son las noches en las que los lobos son silenciosas, y s\u00f3lo los aullidos luna.<\/i><\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Tammy Boehm is an avid writer who published her first YA Christian action fiction Novel \u201cBethany\u2019s Crossing, in 2008. Her non-fiction article \u201cCoyote, Singing Dog\u201d was published in the September 2013 issue of Spider Magazine. Wife, mom and professional accountant, Mrs. Boehm has been a New Mexico resident since 1979 and much of her work is infused with southwestern culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A phantom moon crested against the billowed clouds riding the wake of the storm\u2019s ebbing rage. I crouched, shivering as the moon shed light but no warmth in my temporary shelter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horror"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3600,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions\/3600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}