It was on Holy Saturday when my Grandmother Maite had been, what I would call anyway, cranky and out of sorts even for her. For some reason, she was not happy with the number of crows she was seeing in the neighborhood, not that I had seen any. She also said things like the spirits are angry, or the Named are hidden. Crazy stuff to me. On top of that she said she felt in her bones that something was going to happen...something bad.

It became the running theme when anyone talked to her.

I hated it when she talks like that, that amorphous 'something bad' is going to happen. I love my Abuela but she is very old school, a mix of Catholic religion and Native Chilean mysticism, and that always make me roll my eyes when she hits me with those things.

I haven't been to church in years and I have never lived in Ancud, the city our Family is from, let alone even been to Chile. I know that we come from there, as well as many of the families around us, but it never really had been something that I had strong ties to beyond knowing it was our background and that we still observe some of those traditions.

Don't get me wrong, I love some of them traditions...like the one where we throw our shoes out to see what the year will bring. Or like these big dinners., always so much good food to eat...but that is about it for me.

It really had went south when, right before the Big Meal, the last of the guests had arrived. Specifically, me and Chloé.

This big dinner had been planned for weeks. Neighbors and family had all been invited to spend the day together, help ("If you want to", my Mom always says) fix a big dinner, and celebrate the end of the Holy Week. You could come and go all day as you wanted but dinner was a 'must' for everyone involved. Mom had just said, "Be there!" to me as I had left to go pick up Chloé.

Late was also not OK!

My girlfriend, Chloé was invited because I had been dating her for a while now and the rest of the Family wanted to met her. With the exception for my sisters, none of the Family had met her even though I had been dating her for more that six months. She lived in San Fernando and I spent most of my free time over there rather than make her come over here.

Invited is really the wrong word. My Mom told me to make sure Chloé came with me; no ifs, ands, or buts this time. She was important to me and so she was to the Family as well. This is a big deal, this dinner for the Family, an important gathering and not to be missed by anyone who is truly part of the Family, she had said.

Not a big surprise to me. She always treated ever girl I dated as "The One I Am Going To Marry".

e are celebrating Holy Saturday, nd we are honouring the traditions of community with our neighbors, Mom was not going to let it go how big a deal this meal was.

My mother and father were having the dinner at our house, as they had for years, and had invited all the Family to come if they could. Many of the neighbors had also been invited and were already there as dinner approached. Some were still going in and out of our house, shuttling food from their houses to Mom and Dad's as I walked up with Chloé.

I had parked two blocks away...parking sucks in this neighborhood generally and the party was making it just that much worst.

Chloé and I were holding hands chatting about the different neighbors that were going to be there. Well, about the neighbors that were not going to be there more specifically. It was fun for me to share stories about the neighbors we don't like or things they do that are just silly or stupid.

Like the time the Álvarez's had had the police show up because Mr. Álvarez's girlfriend had shown up at the house...that had been a fight to watch.

<chuckle> Well, maybe only for me. Chloé has become a bit quieter as we approached the house. Nerves, I guess.

The front room, which is the biggest room in the house, had been converted to a dinning room for today's meal. In the window I see the tables and chairs with my Family and friends still putting out dishes of food and setting up glasses and plates. The big screen TV is showing pictures of the Vatican and statues of the Saints in an endless montage setup for the holiday.

We walked through the open door and I let everyone know we are there.

"Hey, everyone! I would like you to meet Chloé...Chloé, my Family..."

And Grandmother started screaming, "¡Kalku! ¡Kalku! ¡Oh! ¡Dios mio es el Malvado! ¡Una Kalku!" and waving her hands in warding signs at Chloé.

Suddenly people were looking around trying to figure out what is happening: at me, at Chiloé, and Grandma. Some were even looking out the window for the crows that had suddenly become very noisy for some reason. The crows outside could be heard cawing like they were on the house or just outside the door...I had not even seen them as we came up to the house. Their caws seemed very loud to me and we were inside.

But I looked over at Chloé as she is squeezes my hand painfully hard.

Are her eyes black?

&#x200B;

&#x200B;

Kalku: A Chiloe and Mapuche mythological sorcerer who controls crows and contains dark magic and negative powers.