Family Lore

Flor attempts to write her own eulogy and struggles, as her understanding of life is grounded in a complicated form of love. She recalls her first love, Nazario, a distant cousin who visited when she was young. He made her feel human for the first time, and she wonders if this is what her eulogy is meant to portray—how having foresight made it difficult to love but not impossible.

Matilde returns home to find Rafa in bed, watching TV. She goes about her nightly routine, not responding to him as he says he doesn’t know what to wear to Flor’s wake. As she sets alarms on her phone to open Yadi’s shop in the morning, she receives a text from Kelvyn. When Rafa reaches for Matilde, she avoids him.

Ona lies awake, counting down the time before the wake, while her husband Jeremiah works in his studio. She thinks it is a mercy that her father Pedro died in a car accident and won’t be present for the wake. She then recalls how difficult life was because of Pedro—how he would drink every weekend and eventually end up watching TV on mute, while she and her mother were in their bedrooms. One night, when Ona was eight, she slipped out of her room and saw Pedro watching pornography. She returned regularly to watch porn, and experienced a sexual awakening. When she was eventually discovered by Pedro, he said nothing, but she stopped watching and instead used her imagination to fuel sexual fantasies. Ona only ever wanted children in theory—that is, until she thought she was pregnant a year ago (but was diagnosed with uterine tumors). After her surgery, she felt her body changed and has not been able to conceive children. As she recovers and tries to regain control of her gift, she relies on porn for solace.

Flor wakes from a vivid dream and waits to call Pastora. Their shared fear of being left alone prompts Flor to remember when Abuela Eugenia and Nun Aunt visited the family’s home in the Dominican Republic, and Doña Yokasta confronted Mamá Silvia. Doña Yokasta explained to Eugenia, Nun Aunt, and Silvia that she received the head priest’s vestment from Pastora, but she found muddy footprints on her expensive rugs and a belonging was stolen. She subtly accused the family of thievery, as Pastora tripped into the room. She accused Pastora of kissing her son and stealing. Pastora denied it, but Eugenia promised to deal with her by putting her to work for another family member. Flor regrets never telling her father about the incident, as he might have been able to stop Eugenia and Nun Aunt. In the present, Flor calls Yadi to ask for a specific jam, then calls the rest of her family.

After waking from a sexual dream of her and Ant, Yadi takes a shower. She feels he is haunting her, as he has been for years, and recalls her mother Pastora sending her to the Dominican Republic. After his trial, she felt stuck, so Pastora took her out of school and sent her to Mamá Silvia. Yadi became reacquainted with her culture and family history, and Silvia monitored her health by inspecting her bowel movements. Depending on what she found, she would change Yadi’s diet accordingly. Yadi ended up enrolling in a local high school to finish her final year and applying to college with Ona’s help.

In an interview with Ona, Yadi admits she doesn’t remember how she learned about self-pleasure, but that she and Ona mostly learned in the shadows. This information wasn’t taught by their mothers, and Yadi hopes previous generations of women were not caught up in social conventions that silenced female sexuality.

Matilde opens Yadi’s shop in the morning, feeling pride at the return of Dominican merchants in their neighborhood. She recalls when Yadi became vegan and they became close, as she herself took an interest in Yadi’s Dominican flavor profiles. When Yadi opened her shop, she asked Matilde to help run what would become a neighborhood staple.

Pastora comes to the shop at 9 am, and just as she’s about to discuss Rafa, Kelvyn enters. The sight of him makes Matilde panic, so Pastora leaves and saves the discussion for later. Matilde tries to remain professional with Kelvyn, but Yadi arrives and recognizes him. Matilde knows her niece’s makeup belies a troubled state, and Yadi escapes to the back room. Matilde gives Kelvyn his smoothie and thanks him for his music recommendations, but asks him not to text her again. He agrees and leaves. Matilde remembers learning how to dance as a child and outdoing everyone in her school. With no one to partner with her, she danced by herself, as she does now in Yadi’s shop. Though she told Kelvyn not to text her, she hopes he returns for lunch. Matilde wrestles with desire, her five miscarriages, and menopause. She stopped having sex with Rafa after he gave her chlamydia but now desires another man.

Ona is about to call Flor before she leaves the house, and contemplates how her mother forced closeness between them over the years. She finds her mother inattentive to matters of the heart, especially when she left home to study in Binghamton. When Flor visited during parents’ weekend, she insisted on staying in Ona’s dorm and attending the Latin American Student Union party. While Flor made friends, Ona escaped to the bathroom, where she met Soraya—and the two became attracted to each other. In the end, Flor still disapproved of her choice to leave home for school, and though Ona knew this was an expression of love, she felt smothered. In the present, she dutifully calls her mother and asks about her death dream. Flor gives a non-answer and says Ona must face what is coming despite being scared.