Thirty-five years before dying, standing at the foot of a steep, carpeted staircase, Tata pivoted within the confines of the small lobby, and with a grandson laughing loudly in each of his arms he bounded up stairs two at a time and then down a dimly lit hallway to a small painted door. The three of them waited there in silence, looking into each others eyes, the two young boys a little frightened without their parents near, the gray haired man short of breath, smiling, a little amazed, and waiting for his son and his son's wife to catch up to them after dragging all of their Guatemalan belongings up the stairs behind them one step at a time. Tata instructed his son to take the keys from his pocket in order to open the door and they all stepped into a small room that filled nearly to capacity when a neatly made bed fell down off the wall. Too late and too tired to eat or to talk anymore, everyone would have to sleep wherever they could find a place, but the bed was for the boys.

The youngest was asleep within seconds after mumbling, "buenas noches, Tata." Tata kissed him softly on the cheek and then came around to the other side of the bed to where the older one lay on his back, too excited to be tired yet. His arms and hands rested over the edge of a slightly tattered, itchy, woolen blanket. Looking up at the giant man settling down onto his knees right next to him, Raul could see love welling up in his grandfather's eyes behind small tears. His little hand was suddenly lost inside the old man's soft white palms, and he looked straight up into the greenest eyes he'd ever seen, and he heard him whisper to him and him alone in the whole entire world, "you are what I have wanted my entire life."

Roberto Quezada-Dardon was born in Guatemala and raised in Los Angeles where he attended film school at UCLA. Currently he is a photographer who wishes he had more discipline to write and a digital media producer who would love more time to read, although there could never be enough time for that. The jury is still out on the discipline. In former lives he was a short order cook, a filmmaker (mostly horror films), and a Web site designer. He would gladly start all over again, if only there was enough time.