Being a house painter in Boston made me wonder, in awe, for the first time in life, what it actually feels like to immigrate to the U.S. Our crew came from all over. Bogey would place a towel on the seat of his Lexus at the end of the day and ease behind the wheel covered in paint, careful to not even graze the upholstery with the dried splotches on his elbows. A microbiologist, he came from Mongolia when his wife took a job at Harvard. George, a grizzled old-timer from Greece, beckoned me close over lunch on my first day—fresh from the long drive from Chicago—and declared with raised eyebrows, “You know … Jesus was married,” then disappeared into his van to get high.
Angel, my most frequent partner, came from Puerto Rico. Just a little older, he took me under his wing despite speaking English only in phrases. When we stood face-to-face bracing a forty-foot ladder, he pumped a bicep and scowled playfully, “Like a man!” He sang every song on the radio, but when his favorite—“Breathe (2 AM)” by Anna Nalick—got to the chorus, he stared into my eyes and swept his arms imploringly.
One day at 5 am I printed out MapQuest directions as usual to the address of the new job site and followed them to a street in Brookline, one of Boston’s wealthy neighborhoods. I parked behind Angel’s white van and went into the house; the front door was unlocked. “Angel?” I called into the spacious foyer. “Angel? Are you there?” I took off my shoes and climbed the grand staircase, the hairs slowly standing on the back of my neck. At the top I took one step toward the master bedroom when I suddenly saw a woman in bed there through the open door, her arm draped to the floor, the man sleeping next to her shirtless. I froze, realizing I was an intruder and anything could happen if they woke up. I backtracked as silently as I could, adrenaline surging. I grabbed my shoes and jumped out of the house and into my car, panting and double-checking the address. When I rang the doorbell across the street, Angel opened with a smile and sang, “Juuuuuust breeeeeeeathe.”
