Monique Quintana
2 Alebrijes (A True Story)
For Steven Sanchez
Before the time of plague and death, the girl bought two boys winged toy animals in a store on Olive Avenue. She meant them to be gifts. Instead, she packed the two animals away and forgot about them for years. The animals had conversations, and they told stories about each other’s families. They talked shit about people they didn’t like, and they grew older for their ideas. They wrote poems. During the time of plague and death, the girl found the animals again, bright yellow, red stripes, wooden, splintered, winged, shuddering, and she let them keep on and talk on and she forgot to give them to the two boys they were meant for all along.
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