Placas
Selected Monologues
ACT 11 , SCENE 11 TATTOO REMOVAL CLINIC , LASER ROOM
CLAUDIA This , three dots on my hand … tres puntos . Yeah , it ’ s the 13 . But it ’ s also the three places a gangster ends up . In the hospital , in prison , and in the grave . You can barely see it , and only another gangster knows what it means . This one on my wrist , the Mexican flag . My mother and father both immigrated here from Jalisco . People think just cause I ’ m guera , I ’ m not Mexican . It ’ s like all Mexicans are supposed to look the same . So I got it to say , Well , we come in all shapes and colors , pa ’ que sepan . You know , like I had to prove myself a lot growing up .
This one on my arm used to say Sparky . I covered it up when Edgar was a baby . When I left la clika . Now it ’ s supposed to look like some tribal design . I don ’ t know what it is . You can ’ t really bury the past , anyway . It ’ s not like I stopped being Sparky . Not for the homegirls and the homeboys . Not for my enemies . Not for my mother . Not even for myself . I ’ ll always be Sparky . Just like I ’ ll always be a loca . I just don ’ t call myself that no more .
This one on my chest , La Virgen de Guadalupe outside a prison cell . You can see my father ’ s face behind bars . He ’ s praying . This is for my father , locked up since Edgar was in preschool . This one … it makes me cry . I love my father so much . He was the best man , pero porque he didn ’ t have any papers , he couldn ’ t get stable work for us … So he ’ s doing twenty years in Lompoc . He ’ ll probably die there . I miss him .
Photo : Aimee Santos
30 TRITON | WINTER 2016