Veganuary
Gerardo Lamadrid
On the evening of Veganuary’s eve, a young lover born and raised and still living but not working in Barrio Obrero boarded a train in Cupey carrying a backpack off their left shoulder and a box of Hershey’s truffles from Walgreens’ month-and-a-half-early St. Valentine’s Day sale nestled tightly in their right armpit. They were on sale for buy-oneget-one-half-off. Where was the half-priced box then? He didn’t buy it. He couldn’t. As much as he wanted to, he only had enough cash for the one, plus his train ticket home. The lover grasped a handrail. They couldn’t complain about the missing chocolates. Inflation, man. Year after year; just won’t stop. But whatever—they knew their lover waiting at home for dinner delivery would share her dessert, too. A much younger girl in the burgundy flannel pinafore of her public school uniform, sitting next to her father, just a few feet from the young lover asked them for a piece of chocolate. Her father said, in English, “Riley, we don’t ask strangers for their candy. You don’t know who it’s meant for.” The lover replied, “That’s okay. She can have one if that’s alright with you. My partner will understand.” The stunned father looked down at the grinning girl looking up at him, nodded at the lover and thanked them, telling the girl to thank them as well. “Gracias,” the girl said, “and happy new year.” The lover smiled at her when they got off the train at the Sagrado Corazón station—she waved back while her father drafted work emails on his phone, not realizing it was their last stop. The lover took the escalator down, basking in the coolness of the gray train station, then climbed five steep, dark, steamy blocks to their partner’s apartment, to the tune of a single bar’s salsa-heavy jukebox and billiards echoes. “Toma,” the lover said having just reached the door right when their lover opened it to welcome them. “Lo prometido es deuda,” they added, handing her the box. “Te los tienes que acabar hoy,” they said, knowing she was about to go vegan for a whole month.
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