The Mango Chronicle

He leaves his birthplace during a nuclear missile crisis. As a refugee in a foreign land he struggles to adjust to a new set of life circumstances. The author recollects his childhood in his Cuban barrio from the eyes of a child, and then decades later, from the vantage of a grown adult. From stealing a rowboat and being nearly capsized by a Russian tanker, to befriending an old fisherman who tells him a haunting tale, to being bullied by a neighborhood thug, to cockfights gone wrong, to witnessing the plight of political prisoners during an invasion, to dealing with the injustices of growing up in a machismo and homophobic culture, he had led a Cuban Huck Finn childhood. Arriving in an at-times unwelcoming culture, he struggles to assimilate while preserving his native soul. Eventually he finds redemption upon circling back to his roots when he returns to the island.

Ricardo came to the United States as a Cuban refugee in his teens. As an academic clinician-researcher, highly decorated medical educator, and former Department Chairperson Ricardo has authored of over fifty scientific publications. His fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry have been featured in the U.S. and in the UK, in Acentos Review, Hispanic Culture Review, Biostories, The Bellingham Review and others. "The Mango Chronicle" is his debut full-length book. Ricardo lives in North Florida. gonzalezrothiauthor.com

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 1. Bienvenido 1 2. Fotos 6 3. La Casita 8 4. An Enigma in Parentheses 13 5. Lagrimitas 21 6. The Old Man at the Clinic 31 7. The Sight of Blood 36 8. The Bend in the River 49 9. Peeling Back the Burlap 56 10. The Hot Water Bottle 64 11. Oh-Eh, Oh-Eh... Oh-Eh, Oh Ahh 68 12. Venceremos! 73 13. Cake Soldiers 79 14. Cuca la Muda 84 15. The Unfortunate Kimbumba Incident 92 16. Retribution 97 17. On the Bay of Matanzas 102 18. Papalote wars 110 19. Egress 117 20. Limbo 120 21. The Seventh Angel 128 22. Adjusting 138 23. Papi and Me 150 24. Una Coincidencia 155 25. Remembering to forget 161 26. The last two beats 171 27. Spic 179 28. Remembering to forgive 182 29. Oigan 190 30. Going Home 194 31. Ep?logo 197 Acknowledgments 211 About Running Wild Press 213