As I was reading over some of the previous blog posts, I realized that I wrote all about Kevin, my new brother in Peru but forgot to write about his little sister Marina…or as we like to call her, the bride of Chucky…
Sure…Marina is adorable. She is four years old and stands about as tall as my waist. Her silky smooth, black hair falls a little below her shoulders and is usually tied up in multiple french braids. She always sports some kind of bright colored leggings and a T-shirt. One day, she was wearing a pastel pink fairy costume all day. It was cute. But then, she opens her mouth and you quickly discover her charm is all just an act.
Marina will not only try to tell you that everything in the house belongs to her, but, she will know that you do not understand her so then she will yell louder and louder until you either say “Si” in agreement with her or run away. I would not try the latter of the two though because she WILL follow you into your room even if you tell her it’s time to go to bed. She doesn’t care. She’ll be up until at least midnight torturing her “pet” kitty named Gato (which is Spanish for Cat)
Yes. Gato. If I knew the number to an animal rescue place here in Trujillo, that cat would be admitted immediately. Marina thinks that in order to show Gato her love, she must squeeze it until it shrieks. When it shrieks, she knows it can still cry for help so then she continues to strangle it until it can no longer make noise. All it can do is look pitiful. Marina interprets that look to be a look of love and admiration. The whole time this process is going on, Marina is howling with laughter. One night, she was sitting on the top of the stairs cackling. I knew this couldn’t be good but I still wanted to check it out. Thank God I did because there she was, holding Gato by the back two legs, dangling him over the staircase, shaking him profusely. I told her to stop and went to reach for the cat but she yanked him away and told me it was her cat and not mine.
She also has a fake laugh to make you think she is an innocent, adorable child. I know it’s fake because one day (before I knew of her maliciousness) I was playing with her and decided to tickle her. Like most children, she just laughed and laughed and laughed. I thought it was sweet…nope…it was all an act. When we went to our picnic with the whole family, I tried to tickle her again but she didn’t flinch. I tried again and she just gave me a look that said, “Are you stupid? This doesn’t affect me at all.” Yupp. She’s a faker.
Sometimes, she sings to us too. She will sit on top of the stairs so we can all see her. Then she will stroke Gato and sing something that I can only describe as something you would hear a little ghost child sing in a horror film. You know, something like… “One two, he’s coming for you, three four, shut the door” something like that. Only, it is in Spanish so that makes it even creepier because she really could be chanting evil spells over us.
No one is safe from her in our house. The only person she will even consider to listen to is Kevin. Most of the time, Kevin just avoids her as well though. Poor, poor Kevin…
