Lunch at the Mama's House

Monday through Thursday, I get out of class at one and head towards the bus station. As I wait for a bus that goes towards Itzimna, my mind always wanders towards lunch and what my madre has made for me and my roommate. I try to predict what she has made and wonder if it would be better to grab a couple tacos to go or save the pesos and brave the unpredictability of her cooking. Most of the time I decide to go with her cooking and hope for the best. Somedays, I hope someone asks me if I wanna grab some lunch because I have a bad feeling about lunch at home. My gut normally serves me right and those bad feelings become tuna lunch days. The bus ride home always leads to a build up of my hunger. Something about sweating profusely while bouncing up and down makes me starved. The bus drops me off close to my house so I am able to scramble inside my house rather quickly, not having to endure more of the Mexican heat. I always hope for something really authentic for lunch. Something spicy and chickeny that is going to blow my mind...has yet to happen. No matter what the entre of the meal is, I can bet my life it is going to come with half a pound of rice. The bun-less burger, the empanadas, the soup, the tacoesque looking things, all of it comes with a huge amount of rice. I have learned that hot sauce makes it a lot easier to eat half a pound of rice, but every meal ends with a little rice baby in my stomach. After my madre serves lunch, she sits with me to talk but not to eat. I feel like such a fat kid sometimes shoveling rice into my mouth while she just watches and smiles. I must say we do have some candid conversations at lunch though. I understand maybe forty percent of what she says but somehow it still works. We have talked about cougars (not the large cats), my hair, girls she wants me to meet, life and death, carpe diem, her life, how she hates her son's girlfriend, and more. I must say, were pretty tight. I look forward to lunch every day after class, especially today. I came home and saw a huge pot of pasta and was stoked. I said I was hambre so she gave me a gigantic helping with cheese and hot sauce. I finished it all ten minutes later and was finishing my glass of water when I saw her coming at me with a big piece of tuna.......