Nine out of ten film stars

make me cry. I'm alive.

Memory Mambo, Achy Obejas

"Why do you believe him?"

Nena shrugged."I just do, he's not a liar."

I guffawed. "Nena, everybody in our family's a liar," I said. "Mami and Papi make up stuff about the duct tape fortune, Caridad lies about Jimmy, Jimmy lies about everything, Patricia lies about Titi, god knows both Tío Raul and Pauli both have tons of secrets, and hey, you're lying about Bernie. Everybody's dancing around the truth. I mean, how do you wander through it all? How do you tell Bernie about your family? What do you say?"

"Well, I just tell Bernie what's true for me, and I let him know I have doubts, and that there are varying stories," Nena said. "For example, if I were gonna tell him about Titi and Patricia, I'd tell him Manolito's story and then maybe your story, and then my story - what I believe -and by the end there's a new story - Bernie's."

I shook my head. "Very relative," I said. " It must take forever to tell all the stories."

"Hey, we're into communicating, okay?" she said with a chuckle. "It's sort of like singing 'Guantanamera' - everybody gets a chance to make up their own verse."

"Memory mambo," I said, one hand in the air, the other on my waist as if I were dancing, "one step forward, two steps back - unnngh!"