|
Elvira, Andrea, and Zaira, my close friends and classmates at Ruston
Academy, appear in Scatter My Ashes over Havana. Our bachillerato graduating class totaled thirty-two students.
Elvira, Andrea, Zaira, and I played sports, did homework, prepared
for exams together. We went to parties and dreamed teenage dreams
together. Only Zaira remained in Cuba.
 |
Team Picture
Here we are, the only four Cubans in the basketball team at
Ruston Academy, where many Americans living in Cuba sent
their children. Elvira: 21 Andrea: 27 Zaira: 6 Olga: 14 |
 |
Las Cuatro Amigas
Graduation night at Ruston Academy, 1958.
We were dressed as if for our weddings. Zaira, Elvira,
Andrea, Olga. The photo was taken in the school garden, in front
of the weeping willow or sauce llorón. Our graduation
party that night was at the Tropicana. The following September,
Zaira was studying philosophy in Paris, at the Sorbonne. Elvira,
Andrea, and I were attending Santo Tomás de Villanueva University in Havana. After two years, all of us except Zaira had left Cuba. |
Ruston Academy class of 1958 |
Emi and Olga, 2006
|
Leaving your country of birth means you lose most of your
friends. I am fortunate to have found my closest ones after
many many years.
How did I find them? A hermit at a Benedictine monastery
near Corning, New York, handed me the booklet of Ruston
Academy alumni—names, addresses,
and phone numbers. One of his few possessions was that
booklet. He too was a Ruston alum. His sister Ada Galbán had
been my classmate. |
|
Twins