1 The First Encounter

My name is Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, I was born November 8th 1973 on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, to parents Gloria and Alfredo. I'm the youngest of 8 siblings, 5 sisters and 2 brothers. Growing up in the countryside of the island with my family was great. My parents worked in the city, and that's where we attended school. We lived on my grandparent's homestead in a 4 bedroom house. We grew lots of fruits and vegetables, there were also chickens, cows, sheep, turkeys, pigs and rabbits that we butchered for food. My grandpa also taught me how to hunt and fish.

We sold the land and moved to Chicago's Humboldt Park area in March of 1984. Living in the big city was really different from the countryside. I miss the country life, if ever I am able to, I want to live like that again. We didn't have a lot of animals anymore, my grandma kept her some chickens though, she loved fresh eggs. We couldn't hunt anymore but could still fish in the Humboldt Park(HP) Lagoon or at Lake Michigan. Our school was closer, everything was a short walk away. We no longer grew a lot of our own food or had to butcher any animals. It took awhile to get used to.

I graduated from Moos elementary in 1987. I then attended Roberto Clemente H.S. and graduated in 1991. I decided to join the Marines that summer and after 6 years now I'm back home. I'm eating at my tios' (Spanish for Uncle) restaurant enjoying a jibarito meal (jibarito is a steak sandwich with grilled onions, cheese, mayo, lettuce and tomato, between 2 flatten and fried plantains served with traditional rice and beans). I had been back for a few weeks now and enjoyed seeing my family and spending time catching up with everyone. I was able to buy me a nice 4 bdrm home and a '98 royal blue Cadillac Deville. My cousin Victor encouraged me to buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle, he said it'll help in getting the ladies to notice me smh lol.

It was April now and the weather was warming up a bit, but still windy as usual. My face was clean shaven and my head nearly bald, I had on a blue muscle shirt and black slacks. "So what are you planning on doing with yourself now that you're back, sobrino(nephew)?" My uncle asked. "Honestly I just want to settle down unc, being single sucks. I want what you and aunt Marie got, a marriage and solid foundation." I told him. Aunt Marie smiled and gave her hubby a kiss. "Gracias(thanks) Manny" she told me. He looked at me a little surprised, "Really?! Already?" I nodded. "Well just know that it ain't gonna just happen overnight, it takes years of trust, loyalty, honesty, sacrifice, respect and unconditional love to have a great marriage work out, you understand?" He turned and tapped Marie on her ass as she walked by. She just looked at him and smiled shaking her head. He was cooking orders behind the counter while talking to me, a few nearby customers verbally agreed with him. "Entiendo tio"(I understand uncle) I smiled. I missed my uncle, he and his wife Marie, started off selling plates of food to pay bills and raised enough money with the family's support to open up their own restaurant.

He could retire if he wanted to but he loved cooking too much. My grandpa, his father, told me when I was younger to invest in my future, so I did. I had bought several shares in various companies that turned out a nice return so I had a good nest egg to rest on. I didn't need to work but I was bored and lonely and needed something to do. So I applied as a security guard at my old high school. It was nice seeing some of my old teachers again too. But the school had changed while I was away, it was more violent and they had to install metal detectors to stop weapons from being brought into the building.

I was sitting there lost in thought eating my sandwich when I heard this beautiful voice next to me. "Hey Papa, my grammy wants to order your delicious rotisserie chicken meal again." she giggled and it was a melodious sound. "I gotcha" he said. I slightly turned to see this young, cute black girl sitting next to me. "Hi!" she said to me smiling. "Hello" I said then she looked curiously at my sandwich that I was holding. She was wearing a floral yellow summer dress with flip flops on and her thick, curly dark hair was in two afro puffs, damn she was cute! I was checking her out but she couldn't tell as I had on shades. "Have you ever had a jibarito before?" I asked her. She frowned a bit and cocked her head to the side, "A what?" "A jibarito? That's what this is" "No, I've never seen or heard of that before in my life!" Then I explained to her what it was and asked "Would you like a bite?"

She looked a little surprised her brown eyes widened, she blinked and she "Sure!" I handed it to her but instead of grabbing the sandwich from me she opened her mouth and took a bite. *CRACKLE* When her juicy, soft, plump lips touched my fingers as she took her bite, it felt like I was struck by lightning! WTH! I shivered a little and felt goosebumps all over and my hair were standing on end. I was in a daze and I shook my head to try and shake this feeling. "Mmmmmm that was delicious!" she exclaimed happily "And its called a 'jibarito?" she pronounced it slowly. "Uh yeah you said it right. Would you like me to buy you one?" I asked her.

"Really?!" she said looking surprised, smiling. "Yeah I don't mind." I smiled at her. "Sure, I'd love one!" "Ok, one jibarito meal coming up." My uncle said, "Is it to go?" "Yes, Papa! Thank you!" she called him Papa because that's the name of his restaurant not because he was her father they were not related. "So how's your grandmother doing?" my tio asked her, "She's much better now that she's out of the hospital." she said. "The doctor says she has something called diabetes. I don't know what it is, but I don't think its good." she looked sad putting her head down and sighing her lip pouting a bit. Damn even when she was sad she was fine. "So what are you doing today?" I asked her, I wanted to know if she single. "I gotta finish washing clothes and cleaning up, find something to cook for dinner and do my homework" she said casually. I wanted to know more about her, especially if she was single and why the hell I felt like that when she touched me. "That's quite a lot to do for such a pretty girl" I told her, she blushed looking at me shyly. "I help my grammy take care of my little brothers and my sister." "Oh I see, well I'm sure she appreciates you a lot, doesn't she?" she nodded "Yup, I don't mind, because I love my grammy!" she said happily.

"Here you go girl, 1 half chicken meal and 1 jibarito meal" my uncle said handing her the bag. "I'll pay for it tio." I said. Upon hearing this she turned towards me really fast with shocked eyes and out of nowhere gave me a hug! *CRACKLE* *SHIVERS* WTF! There's that feeling again! "OMG thank you so much mister I greatly appreciate it!" she said looking up at me. I was dizzy and just nodded awkwardly looking down at her. She turned to leave while I was trying to gather myself, "Hey!" I called to her, someone near the door told her I was calling her and she turned around. "Yes?" "What's your name?" I asked. "Oh", she smiled, "I'm Keya and again thank you so much!" she said looking gratefully, "I gotta go my grammy is really hungry, bye" she smiled, waved and left.

Keya...what a beautiful name, I unknowingly smiled, My Keya. It's her, I know she's the one. "Are you okay?" my tio asked looking at me curiously. Hell No I'm not okay with just a tiny touch this girl was able to render me temporarily paralyzed and oh fuck is my dick hard too?! WOW! I wanted to go after her but if I get up this whole countertop will go with me. I have never had any woman make me feel the way she just did, I think I'm in love! "Uh yeah unc, I'm alright." I glanced towards the door where My Keya just left. "I think she may be a little too young for you, Manny" I looked at him and said "I don't know unc she might just be worth the wait" I smiled contentedly.