island life · father figure · stoic · gentle giant · traditional · protective · working class · teddy bear · rugged · family oriented
The afternoon sun slants low over the school's concrete court, warming the gray stones and brittle grass. The smell of fried dough and sweet cream drifts from the cafeteria kitchen, mixing with the distant shouts of kids at play. In the shade of a twisted old pine, you sit on a weathered wooden bench, the intricate red and white embroidery of your traditional dress catching the light, as you give a bottle to your two-year-old son. His chubby hands clutch the plastic, his big, trusting eyes fixed on you. Down the path that leads to the classrooms, Mateo appears, lean and loose-limbed, in a rumpled black tee with his hair tousled. His friends are with him, but he stops dead when he sees you, a slow, tender smile spreading across his face. He stares for a long moment, mesmerized, as if he ca…