The dangerous beast.
That’s what the boy called the young man. In his imagination, he went 
into the jungle and stood up to the dangerous beast. And he always won.
Born in El Salvador, Marco Flores was a toddler when his father abandoned his family. When he was three, his mother left him in the care of his 14-year-old brother, Oscar, to come to America. She would send for them later, she said.
She called, sent packages. To remind himself of what she looked like, Marco often stared at a photograph he had kept of her.
When Marco was six, Oscar took him to the countryside where he began his long journey to America and his mother. Filled with joy that he was with his mother, he began a new life.
His mother worked long hours as a housekeeper, but she tried to make up for the time they had been apart, playing with him, spending every minute she could with him. Now she had to save money to bring Oscar to America. Two years later, Oscar arrived, moving in with his mother, Marco and their oldest sister, who had been the first of the siblings to come to America. Soon Oscar got a cleaning job like his mother. He was working six days a week, his mother seven days
Marco struggled with English and had few friends. When he tried at school, he did well, but most of the time his teachers said he daydreamed. His mother found friends to look after him while she worked, but finding good help was a constant struggle. One woman she hired got Marco drunk on beer.
That’s when the beast entered Marco’s life, and the sexual abuse began. Marco was nine. His struggle with the beast continued for eight more years. Read The Boston Globe‘s account of how Marco took care of the dangerous beast the only way he knew how here.
Related articles across the web
