LA PISTOLA Y LA TORTILLA

There’s a lot of mystery and coded language that gets tossed around when my parents tell stories about their youth. Whenever I heard the term “She was taken up to the mountains and secretly married,” I had many questions.

Who’s performing secret weddings up there? A stealthy priest? Is there a surreptitious caterer and a back-channel DJ too? Is there a furtive gift registry?

As I got older, I realized it was probably more nefarious than all that. My parents lived during some rough times.