Truth V. Memory

La Familia
Originally uploaded by Tokyorosa

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my cousin Deesa and her family (my family, too, I guess). I remembered her nutso mother, Veronica, as having killed a kid who trespassed in their yard, but that wasn't quite the right story. I was pretty young when I first heard the story and the part about the shooting made an impression on me, though the fate of the kid apparently didn't. Here's my mother's correction (sent via email):

Deesas mom didn't kill that boy. Just shot him up pretty good. Our family & his have had a long, terrible history. Floyd had to join the army or go to jail because that boy's older brother shot at Floyd with a rifle while. he_Floyd- was hunting in the bosque with his bb gun. He loved dove meat & was a great shot. Gram called them pigeons. Anyway, Floyd went & got my Grandpa Julian's rifle & went to that families home, opened the door & emptied the rifle into their house. Thank God he didn't kill anyone. And there was a bunch of them. A few years later, another of those brothers shot & killed Sister's oldest son, Fernando. they were partying at the Duranes park & that boy shot him over a joint. Then they were tormenting Veronica, so she shot at the boy in her yard. Their older sister & I had a running feud too. She would taunt me about Floyd & I would threaten to beat her up. But she never took a swing at me, so I never got the chance. No guns for me:-) Their last name was Lusta.

The photo at the top is my uncle Floyd, a school picture of him taken probably just before he joined the army. Here he was a couple of years later:



Shame about the haircut, really, don't you think?