Presumption of Innocence
The next day dawned bright and promising, and Tony made sure that he stayed out of trouble. His good behavior earned a reward when Maria gave permission for him to head to the park and play until lunch.
Tony joined the other kids there, and when the children saw him approach they began preparations for a pick up soccer game. Tiny though he was, Tony always ended up as the soccer headliner, due to his natural athletic ability. The game was in full swing ten minutes later when Felipe and his brothers appeared. Ignoring the players already assembled, they quickly pushed their way in to the thick of the activity. One by one, the usual players dropped out of the game, not able to contend with the changing rules Felipe's family suddenly instigated.
Tony managed to outlast the rest, and afterwards, he joined the three newcomers as they sought other entertainment. So involved was Tony that he almost forgot to get home for lunch on time, but at the last minute he made it through the door.
As he ate, he enlightened Maria with the information that his new friend did not have to go to bed at a certain time, nor did he have to ask permission to go to one place or another.
"That is his family's problem," Maria summarized, then gently corrected Tony, "wipe your mouth with your napkin, not your hand."
He rolled his eyes, having learned that particularly dramatic touch one previous afternoon when Felipe had introduced Tony to his mother. She had questioned why Felipe's shirt was torn, and Felipe had told her the truth, that he had shimmied up a tree and had caught it on a branch. She began fussing, and he rolled his eyes and turned to Tony, "Let's get out of here. She just gets ridiculous." With that, he pulled Tony back outside to play, and Tony digested the interaction he had witnessed, suitably impressed.
Maria, however, did not find the rolling of eyes a response she planned to ignore, and after a sharp smack to his bottom, Tony found himself in time out, yet once again, for the next hour.
In the next few days Tony further shared that Felipe did not have a bedtime or chores that he had to complete before any fun time came his way. In fact, nearly every directive Maria gave elicited one of Tony's responses about the freedom and enviable lifestyle allowed Felipe.
Maria countered with the fact that Felipe did not belong to her, and therefore, he was not her responsibility. Antonio was, however, and therefore, he would be put to bed when she said and would follow the rules he had assigned to him at home.
Tony's envy of his buddy's carefree lifestyle still increased, nevertheless.
A few days later Lorenzo came upon a group of kids hiding beside the roadway. He wouldn't have noticed them had an egg not sailed over the hood of his car. Jumping out to investigate, he discovered the children scurrying to run, leaving the dozens of eggs they had planned to throw at passing motorists. Recognizing his own baby cousin and some of Tony's friends amongst the group, the usually calm young man lost his temper- big time.
Grabbing Tony by the arm and ordering the boys to him, he delivered a blistering lecture and promised dire consequences should they ever participate in such an activity as egging vehicles again. Once satisfied with their remorse, he ordered the kids back into the village, though he still held Tony in an iron grip. Felipe and his brothers watched the children hurry to obey, and laughed delightedly, calling out insults as they disappeared from sight. They stood united at the edge of the road, watching Lorenzo. He turned to them and promised that he would visit their parents, then opened the car door and ordered Tony to get in and get himself buckled.
Tony wanted to act as tough as the three delinquents who remained, so he stood with his arms crossed defiantly and a mutinous look on his face.
Lorenzo leaned down and promised, "Primo, if you do not get in this car right now- Antonio, I will make sure you regret it."
Tony looked from Lorenzo to the boys and climbed into the vehicle.
He stayed in the car, but watched as Lorenzo reported the incident to Felipe's dad. The man looked annoyed at the interruption, and then offered the excuse that the children would not obey either his wife or him, so there was nothing he could do about their behavior.
That really angered Lorenzo, and when they got home to Tia's, he ordered Tony to go straight to his own home, then called him back as the little boy obeyed and headed towards the door. In no uncertain terms, he assured him that if he ever caught him participating in anything like that again, he'd share his knowledge with Tony's papa and abuela, immediately. Tony nodded and licked his lips, knowing that information like that would lead to his getting spanked. He appreciated Lorenzo's clemency.
Nevertheless, when he got home he complained over and over to Maria that too many people bossed him around all the time. In Felipe's house, he pointed out, no one bossed Felipe at all.
However, the next couple of days Tony and his friends played closer to their own homes, thus avoiding the troublemakers, who lived on the outskirts of town. None of his set really wanted to go up against Lorenzo.
An afternoon later all of the kids had again gathered at the playground, and Felipe and his brothers informed the group that they planned to shoplift from one of the village shops. They bragged that they had pursued this activity on numerous occasions at their last home, and Tony and the others listened wide eyed.
Excited at the prospect of having an audience to witness their cunning, they invited Tony and his group to accompany them to the store, where they would station themselves outside to witness the spoils of the heist when the brothers made their getaway.
The plan did not go exactly as scheduled, because within a couple of minutes the store owner realized that the brothers were stealing. He grabbed Felipe by the arm, and recognized the other brothers as they abandoned their sibling and ran to hide. Tony and his group drew back in shock as two members of the family burst out of the store and ran past them, and then as the store owner yanked Felipe to the entrance and yelled after them.
A crowd quickly surrounded the aggrieved man and the culprit, and Tia, who had been purchasing fruit not too far away, went to investigate. She spied Tony in the group of watching children and ordered him to her. Grabbing him by the shoulders, she demanded he explain what had transpired, and when he sputtered out the story, she summoned the other children and sent every one of them home.
Tony started to obey, but she jerked him back. "Sobring, si alguna vez hablar de que estas jugando con los ninos de nuevo, se vera en problemas- Nephew, if I hear of you playing with those boys again you will be in bad trouble. You are finished playing with them, or socializing with them. Go home immediately."
He shook his head affirmatively, his eyes wide with fear at the scene he'd witnessed and the thought that he would be punished. She turned him loose and he hurried away, worried about his own future.
When Maria understood the entire story she reacted with horror. She punished Tony immediately for not divulging the shoplifting plans to an adult, and she further laid down the law. His abuela ordered that he no longer could hang out or play with Felipe or his brothers.
He voiced his protests loudly and immediately.
Not in the mood to hear Tony's defense or his pleas to reconsider his penalty, she smacked his bottom with a stinging slap and sent him to bed early. The day's events greatly disturbed and worried her, and she did not appreciate Tony's argument.
Later, when she went in to kiss him good night, he sat up in bed and held out his arms to her, his lip puffed out into a pout. Maria's heart tugged, and she crossed to the bed and kissed him, then picked him up and carried her boy to the rocker.
As they settled into the rhythm of the rocking chair, she explained how the afternoon's events had frightened her. He listened attentively as she pointed out that Tony had been way too near the problem. She talked to him about upbringing, and parental responsibility, and the fact that the lifestyle practiced in their household stood polar opposite to Felipe's. Then softly singing and rocking gently, she held him as he fell asleep, one of his hands tangled in her hair.
That night Felipe and his brothers sneaked back to the store, angry over the fact that the store owner had shamed them and had decided to press charges. They set it on fire, maliciously lighting it from three different starting points.
Luckily, a couple out for a late stroll saw the smoke and hurriedly summoned help. The townspeople responded immediately, forming a water brigade and gaining control of the blaze within minutes.
There was damage, though, despite the best efforts of the citizens.
Law enforcement and arson investigators came from Campeche, and it took very little investigating to lead them back to Felipe, his brothers, and his family. The children turned on each other, sealing their fates by accusing each other. The parents were effectively charged with the crime and forced to pay restitution. Rather than face jail, the father and mother agreed to move from the area, closer to Mexico City. In addition, they turned the children over to relatives who could better handle upbringing and discipline. The relatives, the maternal grandparents, lost no time in immediately enrolling all three boys in a school designed as part reform/ part military. The adults of the town found that decision poetic justice.
Tony and his pals settled back into the relationship and routine they had enjoyed before the outsiders arrived on the scene.
Watching a television show a couple of weeks later, Tony turned to his father for clarification. "Daddy, what is that justice? What did the man on the show mean when he said that justice was done?"
Gibbs looked up from his crossword. "It means that the right thing has happened, the fair thing, and that the guilty person has gotten what he or she deserved."
Tony jumped up and grinned, then held one leg and hopped over to his abuela.
Crawling into Maria's lap, he pulled her down for a kiss as he spoke, "We know justice, right Abuela? Justice is Felipe laughed at all of us because we had to obey our parents and grandparents all the time when he didn't, but now he has to do everything complete strangers tell him he has to do. Que es las justicia. That is justice!"