La Chancleta

By Kali Amanda Browne

There is no Latino who hasn’t heard the word chancleta in their life and few who haven’t been the victims of a lesson whose moral included a chancletazo. To some, even well into adulthood, the mention of it can cause a cringe and a twitch, as well as the primordial urge to flee. Nothing more than a simple sandal, a chancleta is a disciplinary tool meant to shock not harm, but it does inspire fear, respect and the very real threat that it if leaves the foot it will strike and find you for your offenses. This is the story of one such chancleta, told tongue-in-cheek in English and Spanish, and the Holy Trinity that is The Way of La Chancleta.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kali Amanda Browne
• Release date: May 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476020594

Kali Amanda Browne

Kali Amanda Browne was born in New York City; grew up in Puerto Rico; and she came of age and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Above all, she tries to laugh even at adversity. She is a writer, food enthusiast, devoted daughter, nerd, pagan, wild woman...

Book preview

1

Puke green walls with a grey and yellow trim, beige metal furniture, and black and blue tiles with a red trim on the floor.

This is the tackiest room I have seen in my life! Doña Carmela said. Who decorated this? It’s like they let loose a color-blind monkey with an old Sears catalog.

The desk sergeant did not look up and chose to ignore the woman. To his way of thinking, a woman who chose to come out in public in a house dress ought to be silent regarding style.

Doña Carmela held on to her purse with fierce intensity, which struck the sergeant as somewhat humorous – considering she was sitting in a police station. Who’d dare rob her here?

Nevertheless, the woman was keenly aware that police stations were notorious for containing and attracting the worst elements in society: criminals and lawyers. What the policeman did not understand was that she was clutching her purse to keep herself calm because the voice inside her head was spewing what the law recognized as terrorist threats.

Yo la mato.

I’m going to kill her. That thought was running through her mind on an endless loop.

La vergüenza...

Of course, the idea that soon people would find out – if the news wasn’t already making the rounds around the barrio that her only child was in police custody – was killing her spirit. It was bad enough the neighbors would know, but also people at her church, the school, the market.

¡Yo no la crié así!

It always came to what others would say and how this would color people’s perceptions on her abilities as a parent.

I brought her up right, you know, she said.

Someone will be right with you, ma’am, the sergeant said for the fifth time.

I’ve been sitting here forever, she said. "It’s not like I’m a young woman or that these chairs are comfortable. Y además, it ain’t like I want people to see me here, you know?"

A uniformed officer exited the forbidding door to the