For children building bridges all around the world
ONE Batman Comes to Cuba I was riding a giant roller coaster It went shooting up hills and hurtled down into valleys at breakneck speed It lurched from side to side and whizzed around corners People were screaming Their mouths were open so wide I could see their tonsils Their hair stood on end I was screaming too when a tremendous thunderclap woke me up Our airplane was diving through the clouds The cabin lights flickered The seatbelt sign was flashing like the lights on a police car The doors to some of the overhead bins fell open and jackets sun hats backpacks and a teddy bear flew out Some people were crying Others were gasping for air Even the flight attendants looked worried I peeked out the window Lightning flashed from cloud to cloud Had we flown into a hurricane Was I going to die on the first day of my vacation Through the uproar the pilot’s voice came on Señoras y señores ladies and gentlemen we are flying through some uncomfortable air Please excuse the small turbulence
Small turbulence She must be kidding I looked across the aisle at my father He was as white as a mushroom He was gripping the armrests of his seat his eyes shut tight My mother’s face was all wrinkled up like she was trying to imagine she was somewhere else Next to me Max began to pull everything out of his backpack His stuffed penguin his comic books his flashlight a banana his underwear you name it At the very bottom of his pack he found what he was looking for His Batman mask He put it on and smiled Batman to the rescue he yelled My little brother can get the weirdest ideas He probably thought he could save the plane by looking like a superhero Max is always very helpful in dangerous situations All of a sudden like night and day the sky outside changed And the plane stopped shaking The flight attendants went up and down the aisles picking up the luggage that had fallen from the bins They gathered up the burp bags from the passengers who had used them I looked out the window again The black clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining on a green island shaped like a crocodile floating on a turquoise sea We had survived Our vacation was about to begin The pilot’s voice came on the speakers Thank you for your patience We will be landing shortly at the José Martí International Airport in La Habana Bienvenidos a Cuba
After picking up our bags we walked to the passport control The officer looked at our passports Then he looked at us Then he looked at the pictures on the passports again He pointed at Max his black eyebrows bunching up in a frown under his official cap Quién es he barked Who is this Max hid behind my mother This is our son Max said my mother He doesn’t look like a Max He looks like a Batman The customs man burst out laughing Batman en Cuba increíble I think maybe we need him here Everyone in the line was staring at us Sometimes Max can be so embarrassing that I pretend he isn’t my brother We hurried out of the airport terminal and stood on the sidewalk Every few seconds a man would come up to us and shout Taxi very loudly in our faces We did not need a taxi Someone was supposed to be waiting to drive us to where we were staying But how would we recognize the person Then I caught sight of a tall brown man with a huge mustache that hung like a pair of curtains on both sides of his mouth He was leaning against a car holding up a sign with our names on it His car was older than he was and you could practically see through it it had so many holes from rust My father saw him too Buenos días he said to him The man grabbed my father’s hand and shook it really hard Soy Ledesma buenos días Buenos días my father repeated as Ledesma went on
