“Esos son comunistas. Parecen mujeres.”

In Cuba our lives were built around two goals, getting out of there and being reunited with Robert and Teresa. We always felt badly about being separated from Robert and Teresa. When we would tell people that we had not seen them in almost four years, they would say “pobrecitos”. I kept feeling bad for ourselves because we had been separated for so long. In Cuba society had come to a virtual standstill (or shift in directions). In the United States things were also changing and evolving. My father knew of the United States of years ago, not exactly the one we got to know once we got there. In Spain mom and dad tried to kind of introduce us to American Culture (Jerry Laywis, Abbot and Costello etc…) . But this was the culture of several years ago. Things were different now….
Upon our arrival one of the first big differences we experienced was in the music. Carlos and I liked to hear music and I think we had one record in Cuba. The lyrics went something like:

“Lunes antes de almorzar, ella no podia jugar, ella no podia jugar porque tenia que planchar”

and

“Un elefante se balanceaba sobre la tela de una araña. Cuando veia que ya no podia…iva a buscarse un camarada”

The first song we would actually act out as the poor kid could not play because she had so many chores. I am now more than a little bit embarrassed to say I actually enjoyed that. These were actually children’s songs. This was not surprising since we were children at the time.

There were also popular songs we liked which we heard on the radio in Cuba, for example;

“Ya los majases no tienen cueva Felipe Blanco se las tapó. Se las tapo, se las tapo, se las tapo por que lo digo yo”

“El oso papopo cuando no bailaba se sirve un placer; Ay que Buena esta la fiesta mama, ay arrimate pa ca nene.”

I think the first one had some political undertones. Felipe Blanco was an actual politician who took a strong hand to eliminate some bad guys (maja is a snake, also a bad guy). The second, is a dance tune.
Dad also taught us some classics like “Nosotros” and “Quizas, quizas, quizas”. He would love to tell us the history behind the songs, particularly “Nosotros’ by Pedro Junco:
“Nosotros, que nos queremos tanto debemos separarnos no me preguntes mas. No es falta de carino, Te quiero con el alma. Te juro que te adoro y en nombre de este amor y por tu bien te digo adios.”
This song was written by a man who was in love with this lady but he had TB and expected to die. Since TB is contagious he did not want to pass it to his beloved so he feels they must not be together. The song is of course about that. Dad loved that song. I can still hear him tell that story.
Before, everything that mom and dad said was it. We tried to learn from them. Considering there was not television and no one else older this was the thing to do. Now things were different. We were trying to learn what our two more experience siblings were trying to teach us. Everything they would say would be ingrained in our minds (at least in mine). I remember a lot of useful and useless things from that time. Part of that was in learning about the music. The famous songs at the time were “Over and Over” by the Dave Clark Five, “Downtown” by Petula Clark and “I’m Henry the Eighth I Am”, by Herman’s Hermits. We would hear those songs over and over again (sorry). Teresa or Robert had the records and Teresa showed us how it was danced to. She danced differently….. They told us that it was a different type of music, it was rock and roll. I thought she looked like she was doing calisthenics. Carlos and I tried to dance like her. I do not really know what Turi was doing at the time. At the time she really wanted to buy a 45 rpm by Petula Clark called “My Love”. It was hard to find but we found it at Jackson Byrons. They had the best record collection at the Jackson Byrons downtown. We would get dropped off by the bus in front of Burdines. We would go to Jacson Byrons to look at the records and then cut through the Seybold Building to get to Richard’s Deparment Store. Sometimes we would stop at McCrory’s to get a corn dog. We would then take the bus back (no. 18) which would pick us up between the two building that made up Burdines. There were two really popular radio stations in Miami. They were WQAM (560 Tiger Beat) and WFUN (790 Fun radio). You could get a really cheap AM radio and listen to these stations. According to Robert, the Dave Clark Five did not sing well but they had good songs. Robert told us the difference between a long playing record and a 45. It was better to buy 45’s since there were a lot of songs that we did not like in the long playing record. The first long playing record we bought was The Best of the Dave Clark Five. We bought it at Walgreens, downtown. I think it cost around $5. He had to think long and hard before he bought it. I think I can still sing all of the songs on that record. There were also “The Beatles”. Robert told us they sang very well. Their harmonies were better. I did not know their songs that well, possibly, because Teresa did not dance to them. I of course wanted to be accepted by Robert y Teresa. I wanted to like the music they liked. I thought it was “groovy” and “cool” (typical words of the time, I was catching on). This was fine and frankly they were great. They both had a lot patience. They would teach us about the latest groups etc. .. We desperately wanted to take in all this knowledge.
Mom and dad never criticized the music that Robert y Teresa liked. Tio lulo and Tia China and Abuelo and Abuela and particularly Tita really did criticize it. When I went to Abuelo and Abuela’s house I would really feel bad about liking the stuff. Every time a band would be playing on the television Abuelo and Abuela and Tiita would comment on the long hair and the way they were dressed. “Esos son comunistas. Parecen mujeres.” I would ask mom and dad why they criticized it so much and they would tell me that my grandparents came from a place where anyone who sympathized with the government would have a beard. They lost their fortunes and their way of life because of these people. Therefore any one who wore a beard was “comunista”. Their explanations always did seem very consistent. It was interesting that Robert was one of the first kids in his class to have to shave. He earned the nickname “Fidel” for this reason. I do not know how dad felt about this. He never did complain. Then again my dad never did complain. To this day friends of Robert that I meet remember him as Fidel. Mom and dad never made us feel bad about liking that music. They were always very supportive.

I do not think mom and dad wanted to complain about anything Robert and Teresa liked or did. They tried to make up for lost time with Robert and Teresa. Stereo record players had just come out. Robert explained to me what stereo was. There were two channels. In one channel the voice and guitar would be recorded. In the other channel it was the drums. The sound was a lot clearer in stereo. We did not have one however. Ours was just a regular record player. Maybe some day we would get one. Teresa and Robert talked about getting one. I always thought it was something that was not really going to happen. Almost like one day we will get one. Yeah…Right. One day, mom and dad actually got a stereo. I was really surprised. They bought it from a guy name Salome. They would always get electronics from Salome. To everyone Salome is an exotic Arab lady. To me it is an old Cuban Jewish man who sold electronics of questionable value. Soon after we got here it was Robert’s birthday. We went to Merle’s Bicycle shop in Coral way and 14 street and Dad bought Robert a bicycle. It was red and had the type of handle bars that looked like a v or u with two handles sticking out the sides. It was a really nice bike. It cost $39. Since dad was working as a dishwasher at that time for $13 a day. This was three days salary. Dad was very happy buying Robert the bike. You could tell he was really proud of himself. I asked dad why he spent so much on Robert y Teresa (he had spent a lot less on Turi’s bike, I was still walking). He seemed to get annoyed (not really upset... just annoyed. He said something like; “I haven’t seen Robert and Teresa for four years. They basically grew up for four years separated from us, without their mom and dad. He said something else which I forget but the gist of it was that I realized how badly mom and dad felt about being separated from Robert y Teresa. They felt like they had done Robert and Teresa an injustice (they felt they had to). I had always felt sorry for ourselves because we could not see our brother and sister. I always thought the “pobrecitos” was us. This was the first time I had realized that the reason they felt so bad was not because of us, or because they missed them (which I am sure they did) but because of how Robert and Teresa must have felt and what they went through while they were here. I could tell in his voice how badly he felt. I have heard that voice in myself when I have gotten really annoyed. I felt like cr..p after asking that question. I am now happy I did. I learned a lot about my dad on that day.