Birth

My mother concealed the pregnancy until the end. She looked weary and thin after the long trip, the slightly prominent belly more a suggestion of undernourishment than a promise of fruit.
She has been legally admitted into the new land but I would not have been. The only reason I am alive is the struck of luck that postponed my birth until it was safe to come.
Eloisa was taken through the back door of the plane into a cold, crowded building. Crowded not with living beings but with cargo. There she waited for immigration clearance, which surprisingly took a few minutes. Her family was waiting and put her in the back seat of the car with an old guitar and a wreck of a backpack. Then she opened the window and smelled the winter; the acid, wet perspiration of the city, the spilled oil in the parking lot and the pungent blood of the trees mercilessly cut by the thousands at that time of the year. Nothing gave her answers, there were no memories, no associations. Other than the people in the car, she could have been in another planet.
As everybody knows, we don't linger in the past. For much of my life I didn't know about my history. She doesn't say much about those weeks before I was born. In passing, she mentions the never before seen abundance of food, the inexplicable rules and the funny accent of the neighbors. Eloisa got to know every spot in the house but the kitchen was her favorite place. It was always warm, always filled with promising scents and there were a couple of dark quiet corners to rest a tired body and even take a nap.
It was that room where she chose to be one evening in the middle of winter, when she started labor. The family and one visitor were looking at her with a concerned look. She placed a mattress on the kitchen floor and without help, gave birth. I have siblings, but I am the first born, the strongest. I knew it right away. Barely conscious and blind, I grabbed the breast, was the first to feed and knew my life was as good as any and I was going to defend it and expand it with my bare teeth.