Not Again!

I should not be surprised.... but it takes a few seconds to hear what the secretary says…when her words finally land in the bottom of my brain or where ever things like these are received… I can´t help it, but I scream, What!!!! Not now again!!!
She looks up at me, surprised… must be because of the English! Otherwise they must be used to screaming ladies here at the Court House in San Juan, and even worse… The girl behind the desk talks to me, a lot of words, Spanish, of which I can only grasp and translate a few, very few like “Senora.. at the Hospital.. next appointment 24th of January”. I am suddenly very, very exhausted!
A rugged little, unshaved person next to me in front of the desk leans towards me and offers his assistance:
I can help, I can translate and he continuous. Your appointment is cancelled, it has been changed.
Yes, I got that, thank you! I say to the little guy, obviously a neorican with experience of the puertorican justice system, maybe, - But what I do not understand, I say looking at the secretaries behind the glass, -- is why I was not informed! - They sent a letter yesterday.. sais the little guy. Okay! But they could have phoned! Why didn´t they call?
And at the same time I remember the strange telephone call early this morning. I might, in fact have been informed. Well, not completely but almost, the man who called me had said something about a citacion…and being from The Bureau of Investigacion, (the Police ?) asking me for the directions to our house! But I had not understood, he did not speak English, or did not want to and instantly I got very worried and in that stage my knowledge of Spanish disappears at once. I thought he was from the police and was coming to give me a citacion because of a querella (a suing) from my hostile sister in law. Or worse, he was asking me for a meeting in which he was to tell me that something terrible had happened, something which due to a now unbelievable humane consideration I was to be informed by person to person , eye to eye. Like something regarding our sons living abroad or that my husband was killed? Why had he not said something about cancellation, new cita/date… or..? I would have understood that! But he had not and the rest of the day I waited for the police to show up at our doorstep with some terrible news.
So, I left the bathroom door open while taking a shower, turned off the fan and the TV so I could hear well if somebody called. On the phone or at the entrance. I closed the TBP (The Pirate Bay Program) which was running on the PC, downloading movies and audio books.. maybe it was that, FBI had finally found me and wanted to investigate and nail me. I had to be prepared!
After that I had not been able to go back to sleep. A sleep that I really needed after staying awake until 5.30AM writing a Statement to the Judge. When A. called a few hours later I had not told him about the phone call regarding ´´citacion´´. With all the bad things happening on the Island, the Strike warning from the Federacion de Maestros i.e. ( Teacher´s Union) and that it had been decertificated (?) and the Department of Education is trying to take away its representation rights among other things, he has enough worries already. He had read my Statement and had a few comments… as usual my long night´s work had to be corrected.. After all he is a teacher of English! Nobody from the Police or FBI or anywhere else showed up. When A. arrived in the afternoon we made a few more changes of my Statement and then we left for the Tribunal.

He left me at the entrance of the Tribunal and went to park the car. When he joined me a few minutes later at the secretaries desk in the waiting room I asked him to find out what had happened. Yes, his sister was ill and in the hospital (if that is not a lie) and a motion had been given, further more the Judge had to go to US on an emergency call… What a coincidence?? The court session was therefore moved to the 24th of January and I was to be granted a new partial P.O. until then. But, we where lucky, at least that’s what my husband said! We did not have to stay there in that horrible waiting room for hours (like all the other 6 times) to get the new papers.. the incredible secretaries fixed it in just a few minutes… (!!)
Well, we chatted for a while with one of the Marshals before leaving. She is well informed , being part of this never ending story from the beginning when AM was arrested and now (again) she was very helpful in making sure that things are in order for the next session, for example that they have remembered that a translator will have to be there. I can think of a lot of other reasons to find out that even this session (the eight) will be cancelled. Ana Maria is an expert. She knows all the tricks and she is determined to make us suffer. But, Surprise, surprise!! I am not giving up! Even if I have to come to the Tribunal every week! Never!!
Now I am going to get that sleep!! Tomorrow is another day!
s.