The State Department is Looking For You

Baby pigs spot the sides of the dusty road. Fences and houses, hamacas and porches. People sitting, talking, sitting. The village thickens up the hill: more houses, more people, more life. Children at school laugh and run and play. Hola, hola, hola. Chickens and roosters cross the street, from one side to the next. Back. Sounds of music, of islands in the background. Tiendas, bebidas, mujeres. A mom in her yard scrubbing the clothes; her ninos playing with the pigs, the roosters, and the dogs in the yard. People bike past us, people walk by us hand in hand. Adios. A truck stopped in the middle of the road, men stand motionless. Emotionless. All it takes is a smile, beyond language, returned, person to person.