Excerpts from among the best of the class... Fall '08

Surviving Ceser

By Jessica Titlebaum

She first saw the man of her dreams one summer night, driving next to her on Interstate 57 in a black Honda accord. Dalila Alvarado was 22 then, and on her way back home to her South Side Chicago neighborhood. She turned her head and spotted the driver- from what she could tell, he was young, Mexican and handsome. Her eyes met his. She flashed a flirty smile and cocked her head back as she drove.

A short time later, she exited the Dan Ryan Expressway. To her surprise, she spotted the black Honda in her rear view, trailing up the ramp. She smiled.

The Honda pulled ahead and abruptly over to the side of the road. The driver waved with the window down and smiled. Dalila paused not unaware that doing so can be a dangerous thing for a woman traveling at night in the big city but, this man seemed harmless enough, and he was, after all, handsome, his hair dark and his face adorned with big beautiful eye lashes that curled as he smiled at her. But Dalila also couldn’t help but notice the tattoo on the back of his neck – a slender black serpent.

From the start, they connected, decided to go to Huck Finn Donuts on Archer Avenue and Damen. They talked until 7 in the morning. Their relationship would soon blossom, eventually with talk of marriage, though what seemed like a dream would eventually turn nightmarishly wrong.

Here is a story of love. But it is also of betrayal, a tale that strikes a chord with other men and women who have suddenly found their hearts broken and their lives turned upside down by the discovery of their significant other’s infidelity. For Dalila, whose heart has mended, there were lessons and certainly warning signs, she says now in hindsight-lessons for other women and also perhaps men, which is why she is telling her story. A story of love, of being blindsided with undeniable truths and having to come face to face with them.

This is also a story about climbing out of love and the difficult road to healing.

Dalila Alvarado and the black Honda accord driver, Ceser, whose last name we are not publishing, became a couple soon after their first encounter. Alvarado recalled how they used to watch “Friends” marathons on the weekends and how he would wait until she fell asleep to put on the soccer game and root for Mexico’s Chivas team. When they wanted a change of scenery, they took road trips to Myrtle Beach, Starved Rock or little towns in Wisconsin.

After awhile, Ceser had begun talking about spending the rest of his life with her. They decided on a small wedding and fantasized about the house they would live in.

Except a year and a half into their relationship, he neglected to tell her one important detail: That in that time he had married someone else…