Thank you for beta'ing, MsSchneeheide! Happy Pride :)
"What's wrong, sir?"
"Let me see your license and registration."
"Okay..." Diablo obeys him.
"You were going over the speed limit," Stratman informs him. "That's gonna be a heavy fine. Are you a green card holder?"
"Of course. I've been a United States citizen since I was a child." He reaches into his pocket for his wallet, fishes out some bills, and starts counting his money to see if he'll have enough.
"Well, good." He clicks his tongue and snickers. "You're dating my ex-girlfriend's mother, right? You're old like her, it makes sense."
"Excuse me?" Diablo is doing his best to stay calm, but it's difficult. "What does that have to do with-"
"Step out of the car right now! Put both hands on the vehicle!" Stratman demands. "I see that child in the back!"
"Qué, he's my boy..."
"Shut up and do as I said!" Stratman growls.
"My mommy died when I was a baby and my daddy adopted me!" Laronne protests as Diablo gets out reluctantly.
Stratman ignores him and pats Diablo down. "I don't have a weapon...por favor, just-"
"Stop talking. You've got the right to remain silent."
"Am I really being arrested?" Diablo grumbles, breathing in and out quickly. "You can't just leave him there!"
"Officer Mendez is gonna drive him home." Stratman handcuffs him quickly. "You were about to pull out a gun, spic."
"I never-"
"Get yourself a lawyer."
"He didn't even do nothin'!" Laronne shouts as a cop with spiky black hair and a thick mustache heads over to Diablo's truck. The poor little boy looks terrified, and it breaks his heart.
"Quiet, or I'll take you to juvy, little monkey!" Stratman threatens his son.
"Hey, you can be racist to me all you want, but don't you dare treat my kid that way!" As he's being dragged away, he glances over his shoulder at a now crying Laronne. "Have him take you to Tía Karla's, okay? I know you're afraid, buddy, but it's gonna be alright, Papá will be home soon!" Mendez gets into the truck and starts driving.
"Get the fuck in there, ugly ape," Stratman hisses at Diablo, shoving him into the back of the cop car. "You're goin' to prison for a long time, and I know your friends can't afford the bail money." Diablo winces in pain since he can't move his arms. "You'll lose the construction job you love so much. Then custody of that little blackie...you're just another loser father, huh? Typical of your kind." Suddenly, he feels helpless and a couple of tears well up in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. "Did you know I made your lady stand up on a table for three days? I'm pretty proud of that...she was fucking pissed. Literally...she wet herself." Stratman guffaws and Diablo grits his teeth in anger, wanting to punch the living daylights out of the asshole. "All because she wouldn't let me and her daughter be a couple. Stupid bitch gave her a monologue about how I was too ancient for her or something. Served her dumb ass right."
"Laronne? What happened?" Karla asks, glancing worriedly from Diablo's son to the officer who brought him home. As he runs to her with a panicked expression on his face, she hugs him close. "Where's your papi?"
"He got taken away by a mean policeman!" Laronne answers her sadly.
"Qué mierda...why?"
"I'm George Mendez, and you're still hot. I never even paid attention to you in high school...except for your sexy body and your soft, sweet voice." He licks his lips and wolf-whistles as he stares at her.
"Excuse me?" Karla demands, stepping away from him. "I asked you a question..."
The corrupt cop saunters closer to her until he presses her into the corner of the foyer. She looks away from him, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable under his lustful gaze. "Hot and bothered already, huh, sugar? It turns me on how much bigger, taller, and stronger I am than you...even if you thought you were more powerful, what with you being my Español teacher in senior year. God damn...did you know I'm part Cuban? Mi maessssstra..." he whispers, hissing on the s sound. "I was jealous of your punk esposo...where is he, by the way?"
"He's reading our son a bedtime story. Look, you creep..." She coughs at his disgusting breath and fans her face. "Shut the fuck up and answer what I asked you!"
Mendez points at Laronne, finally giving Karla her personal space. She breathes out a sigh of relief that he hadn't actually gone through with assaulting her like Litvack had. "His daddy is in a shitload of trouble, sweet cheeks."
She blinks a few times. "What is he being charged with?"
"To put it short, reckless driving," Mendez informs her snidely. "He's gonna be in a cell for a while!"
"What the fuck is goin' on here?" Gloria wants to know as she emerges from the living room with her two little boys following her.
"Diablo ha sido arrestado," Karla mutters.
Diablo's been arrested.
"Dios mío, ¿qué hizo? He's a good driver, Officer..."
Oh my god, what did he do?
"Apparently not, he was speeding down the road like a madman!" Mendez chuckles and slaps Gloria's bottom before anyone can stop him. She angrily pushes him away and then wraps her arms around herself. "What? I can't help that you got a huge ass!" Karla quickly links her arm through Gloria's in solidarity and as a way to calm her.
"Ew, gross!" the boys shout in unison. Laronne runs into another room, but Benny and Julio stay by their mother's side.
"Driving too fast is not something to be arrested over, unless he went a hundred miles per hour over the speed limit, which I doubt he did. I'll be hiring a lawyer. Get the hell out!" Karla commands the asshole. She opens the door wide open, but he stays put. "You don't get to touch me or my friends inappropriately! Thank you for letting us know about Diablo, but you need to leave now."
"I'll be dreaming about you both, sexy mamas," he says as he makes his departure. Karla slams the door and locks it, breathing heavily.
"Mommy, why did he do that?" Benny asks. Julio sucks his thumb and hides behind Gloria's legs.
"He's nasty," Gloria answers her oldest son.
"Mister Fahri should kick his butt!"
"Yeah!" Karla agrees with Benny. "You gonna tell him, Glo?"
"I might, if Mendez keeps doing it."
"He got all up in my face y totalmente creeped me out," Karla murmurs. They all make their way to where Laronne is. "He claims he was a student of mine...but I hardly remember a George Mendez...I had thousands of estudiantes over the years."
"Oh well..." Gloria sighs. "I hope we never have to see him again."
Karla combs her fingers through her messy curls. "Yeah, me too." They find Laronne curled up on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling. "Hey, buddy...we'll get your dad out soon, okay?"
"How? He's said before that lawyers cost a lot of money...and even if I put up a lemonade stand with all my friends, we still won't make enough."
The women sit on either side of him and the Mendoza boys squeeze into Gloria's lap. They're so small that they both fit. "Don't be sad," Julio tries to comfort Laronne.
"Yeah, grownups always know what to do," Benny adds. "They're smart and brave, like my mommy and Tía Karla!"
Karla and Gloria smile at each other gently.
"He's alone in there," Laronne states tearfully. "They took him away! It was scary, the bad policeman was hurting him! I thought cops are supposed to protect us!"
"They are," Gloria tells him. "Some don't, though..."
"You know why you're here, right?"
"What..." Diablo struggles against his restraints. He's been in them since an Asian female officer had pushed him into a jail cell and locked him up. He glares at the well-dressed Caucasian woman outside the white bars. "No, ma'am...I feel this is excessive punishment for a traffic violation! Why do you all insist on treating me like I'm some violent criminal?!" He's trying to keep his cool, but it's increasingly difficult to do so. His questions and worries fly about in his mind. What if Laronne isn't ever brought to a safe location, but becomes a hostage instead? What if Blanca returns in a few days and thinks he'd abandoned her? What if he gets deported over this...? He can't go back to Honduras. There are too many gangs. It's why he checks on his mom every day, just to make sure she's still alive and doing okay.
"You're harboring a fugitive, her distressed husband has been searching everywhere for her."
"The hell are you talking about, ma'am?!" He gets up and walks towards her. She steps back and nervously messes with her chin-length mousy brown hair, even though he's not going to do anything.
"I never introduced myself, and that's my fault. Linda Ferguson...I'm in charge here, along with the head of MCC, and we need things to run smoothly in this place."
Why is that name so familiar, and why does it make Diablo's blood boil...
"God damn it!" he nearly explodes. "You were one of Blanca's tormentors in high school!"
"You aren't allowed to get angry because of something you chose to do, Zuniga," she continues coldly. "You've got two offenses against you, so I'd be careful...especially because of that armed robbery in your youth."
"I'm surprised you didn't get deported, hoodlum," an older white man in a suit and tie adds. "Idiots like you are making me go grayer by the second! Look at this!" He points to his head.
"I need to know what I did that was so wrong!" Diablo pleads them. "I'm aware of my rights..."
"You don't have any in here," Linda snaps. "Jack, let's get away from this inmate, he's scaring me with his loud, rough voice. That son of his is probably turning him darker every day."
"Oh my..." Diablo grits his teeth and turns around as he holds back a scream. His heart is beating faster than it was the day he was thrown in prison for stealing jewelry. "Don't talk about him like that!"
"Isn't your girlfriend from the Dominican Republic?" Linda asks snottily. "That makes her a spigger!" She snickers.
"What did you call her?"
"Figure it out."
He knows it's a slur. "Fuckin' bitch," he mutters as she walks away with Jack.
"Okay, I've searched for Blanca in every state and even in the Dominican Republic...then her places of work here, but she's no longer a waitress at Friendly's, a cook at Martin Van Buren High, and she doesn't take care of Millie anymore. I know you have that tramp somewhere, because I searched that jerk Diablo's home when it was empty and didn't find her! She took my daughters and abandoned me!"
Lourdes glares at Dean. "You dare to come into my bodega and talk to me like that? I have no idea where they went, pendejo!" She barely knows him, but he reminds her a lot of her niece's thankfully dead ex. She and Gloria had put a hex on Arturo, causing him to be burned alive, but they aren't able to get rid of Dean so easily since they don't have a picture of him. All they can do is make sure Blanca and her girls stay safe, wherever they are.
"I know you're hiding her behind the counter, you old bat!" Dean growls and hoists himself up to jump over to where Lourdes is standing.
She grabs a lit candle and points it at him while clutching her rosary with her other hand. "I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you...an abuser just like you suffered, died, and went straight to Hell!"
Dean guffaws and blows the flame out. Lourdes rolls her eyes at how cocky he is. "Yeah? That'll never happen to me. You don't even have proof that I hurt her, because I never did."
"Okay, take a look around my shop," she allows him begrudgingly. "You won't see 'em around here. I have nothing at all to hide...and Gloria told me everything."
"You know I'm an ICE agent, right?" He searches everywhere and storms into the backroom. She's tempted to lock him in there until he dies of starvation and thirst, but she doesn't want herself or Gloria to be responsible for his demise and go to prison because of him. Police would suspect them immediately. "I can get you cunts deported any day of the week!"
Lourdes scoffs. "Nice try...we're Puerto Rican. You don't scare me, asshole."
To her surprise, he doesn't trash the place, probably because he wants to stay out of trouble and continue hunting down Blanca, Maritza, and Raiza.
It's seven in the morning at the busy Greyhound subway station where the Floreses have taken refuge. Blanca wakes up to Maritza singing and strumming her guitar as she collects more money in the case. "The sea and the sun...you and me are one...hope I can see ya one day, baby...thinkin' of you makes me smile and laugh, but also cryyyyy...so I'm sorry we had to goooo...you just gotta know..." Her daughter's voice reverberates around the area and the audience sways to it. "You got that beautiful long black hair, and the gorgeous brown eyes too, that I get lost in...what did I do to deserve a pretty Goth chick like you?" There are some moments where the train drowns her out or people have to rush off to their jobs, but she doesn't show any sign of impatience.
"When I see you, my heart skips a beat...I love your makeup, it's really neat. The way you look all the time fills me with desire...when you kiss me, it's like you set me on fire!" she continues. "What did I dooooooo to deserve a pretty Goth chick like yooooooou?"
Blanca cups her hands around her mouth. "Whoo! You go, chica!"
"Yay!" Raiza cheers.
Maritza looks back at them with a beam and then redirects her attention to the others. "When I say I love you, I ain't lyin', so there ain't no reason for you to be cryin'...you're funny, you're kind, your singing voice is diviiiine...Ohhh, Flaca, you're the belle of the ball, you're oh, so tall, there to protect meeeeee, your love is freeeeee. Baby, pleeeeeeease, forgiiiiiiiive meeeeeee..." She swirls her hair all around. "For fallin' in loooooove with a pretty Goth chick like yoooooou..."
Loud applause is heard as she finishes her song. She giggles and starts blushing. "Muchas gracias..."
"That was una canción tan bonita, nena...quite an amazing tribute to Flaca!" Blanca compliments her. "You had perfect pitch and it was straight from tu corazón."
such a beautiful song
"Gracias..." Maritza shrugs. "I mean, nobody besides you and Raiza know me here, so it's no big deal to come out to a group of strangers. I'd never actually belt that out in front of Flaca or any of our other friends...or yours, either. It took me a lot of courage to tell just you about my crush on her." She blows out a huge breath as Raiza takes a seat inside the guitar case and lays down.
"I know it did...and you don't have to tell anyone how you really feel if you would prefer not to...pero al mismo tiempo, Flaca no parece el tipo de chica que dejaría de ser tu amiga si le dijeras que eres bisexual. You don't even gotta say you're into her."
but at the same time, Flaca doesn't seem like the type of girl to stop being your friend if you just told her you are bisexual.
"Yeah, I'm never gonna say that...ella tiene un novio. I will hate that cabrón para siempre, I swear to fuck!" She balls her hands into fists and shakes them, gritting her teeth. "If he ever hurts her, he'll feel my wrath!" She breaks off into a series of cackles and Blanca just smiles.
"Okay, calm down, brujita," Blanca says teasingly.
"Oooh!" Ian clutches his heart, his face twisting in pain. "Jesus..."
"Qué pasó, what's wrong?" Flaca looks up at him in concern.
"It's like I suddenly got chest pain..." He clutches his heart and groans as he sits up. "Bring me some gum to get rid of it," he directs her.
"What am I, your maid?" Flaca grumbles, but does as he says anyway.
"Come on, I do so much for you! They don't call me the king of molly for nothing...I paid your phone bill by dealing drugs, you love riding that Vespa with me, and we're both goths with eyeliner!"
"I wanna make my own dinero with the fake LSD I'm plannin' to sell in school to help my girl Mari y her mami y hermanita off the streets." Flaca hands him the gum and he pops it into his mouth.
"Just don't do something stupid to land yourself in prison. I wouldn't visit someone so dumb…" He winces. "Agh…"
Flaca rolls her eyes. "I guess God punished you for tellin' me that shit, huh?"
"Sorry," he mutters insincerely.
"You better be!"
"Greetings, fellow inhabitants of the United States! My name is Lolly Whitehill. How about a nice cup of coffee to start your day?" Blanca glances up at a homeless middle-aged, gray-haired, bespectacled white lady wearing ripped gray jeans, a matching sweatshirt, and a black shirt. She has a shopping cart filled with an orange sleeping bag, yellow pillow, a stick with bells on it, a fake sunflower, and a coffee maker. There's a sign on a piece of cardboard that reads you know more than you know. Blanca has no idea what it even means. "I know you three are also down on your luck, so it's free, but I'd be selling it to the housies! You know, the people who have a home."
"Hello!" Raiza waves at her.
"¡Sí, gracias!" Blanca smiles gratefully while nodding and takes the cup from the woman. "I'm Blanca."
"Hi, mini earthling," Lolly tells Raiza sweetly. Blanca thinks it's weird what Lolly has called Raiza, but she doesn't let it bother her. Homeless people sometimes go insane because they're so lonely and have nobody else to talk to. Lolly looks over at Maritza, her grin still wide as it had been when she'd approached them. "I heard you singing earlier. It was quite lovely. I do apologize I have zip to give you though." She shakes her head and shrugs her hands. "I got nothin' to my name."
"Oh, it's alright. Thanks," Maritza says politely. "I gotta earn my keep somehow."
"How long have you three been livin' in the subway?"
"Just since this morning...but we've been in and out of shelters for about two weeks, it's been hard," Blanca murmurs. "When it's not too cold, we stay outside...but when it's below the forties, we try to stay indoors."
"Well, that's rough." Lolly blows out a huge breath. "For me it's been...let's see, I was fired in ninety-three..." She counts on her fingers. "Thirteen years. No, fourteen!"
"Holy shit!" Maritza exclaims. "You ain't got nobody who cares to take you in?"
"Wow, I feel terrible, you got it worse than us," Blanca mutters.
"It was kinda my own fault...see, I used to be a journalist, but they got rid of me since I was writing about how corrupt our government was and how the CIA, FBI, FEMA, NSA were all conspiring against me...they were...but my boss hated the articles...my work friend Ann-Marie was pregnant, so she couldn't look after me. She made an attempt to help me into a group home for the mentally ill, which I am not, by the way..." She wags her finger at them. "I mean, this guy stared at nothing but television static and this other dude had another personality named Randall who was violent. So, I ran off!"
Blanca chuckles softly. "I know how that is."
"Yeah, I was nothing like either of 'em! It's just that voices in my head tell me that these evil corporations are trying to kill me, but I use this stick to keep them away." She points to it. Blanca and Maritza nod in understanding. "Anyway, I've lived in the same little hut ever since and am well known as the coffee lady."
"Oh, cool! Um...how much does your schizophrenia thing happen?"
"Maritza!"
"No, it's fine, she can ask," Lolly allows. "Random times...I can't really say."
"Do you take medication for it...or you probably can't afford that?" Blanca wonders aloud.
"I hate it, the side effects are horrible! The stick helps, though. I've never harmed anyone with it...I promise. I control this sickness I've got in my head real good! You can tell I'm not completely deluded since I know the voices ain't real, they're just annoying and make me panic when they don't shut up!" Lolly makes a face at Raiza suddenly, causing the little girl to burst out laughing.
"Look, Mama, she silly!" Raiza points at Lolly while keeping her eyes on Blanca.
"Yeah..." Blanca smiles gently. "It was great meeting you...but I need to get to work. Under a different name, of course, because a real monster is after me, and if he sees I'm around, it's bad news for the three of us." She shakes hands with Lolly and gets up. "Maritza, when does your shift start?"
"Like nine...and you know I can't take Raiza, the people I work for hate kids. Vee said it herself! She'll stick her in a closet or make her scrub floors like she's an orphan in the movie Annie!"
"Aw, how could she do that to a poor little girl? I love children, they're just so cute!" Lolly beams down at Raiza.
"Sí, they are." Blanca beckons for Maritza and Raiza to come with her and her tiny daughter grabs her hand eagerly. "You can meet us back here if you like tomorrow? It'll be another frigid morning."
"Sure!"
Maritza stands up as well and the three of them wave goodbye to Lolly before departing.
At her job, Blanca has Raiza stay in a staff room with another one of her co-worker's older children, a girl around fourteen who had to stay home from school for an unknown reason.
"Gracias por tratar ayudarme the other day," Flaca mumbles as she sits at a desk at lunch in front of Karla. "Ya sabes, con mis amigas."
Thanks for trying to help me, you know, with my friends.
"De nada, nena. I could tell your chicas were annoying you. I've been through that shit before...I remember my own friends used to tease me about my developing crush on Ramón back in high school. I wish someone had stepped in and told 'em to shut the fuck up!" Karla purses her lips and shakes her head.
"Lemme guess...Gloria, Aleida, Blanca, y mi mami?"
"Mm-hm, and Lila, too. It's just one of those awkward moments...or were you just plain annoyed because you had a boyfriend?"
Flaca twiddles her thumbs and chews on her bottom lip nervously. She's never spoken to anyone about this before, but she feels comfortable talking to Karla since the woman had stood up for her. Her face is already hot and probably turning red. "Sí. Pero...would you mind if I was...something other than straight?"
"¡Claro que no!" Karla assures her and she blows out a relieved sigh. "I just want your significant other to treat you right. Whether it's Ian or someone else."
Of course not!
"Oh...that's good. Well, I dunno...extraño a Maritza like crazy. Mi vida feels barren without her. Besides her amazing personality, she's hella cute...and I'm shy to admit that I wanted to kiss her before she left..."
I miss Maritza
"You did?" Karla asks gently.
Flaca nods and senses herself blushing. "She sucked my bottom lip between her teeth just right during Spin the Bottle at Daya's fiesta de cumpleaños, yo. I...quería que volviera a hacer eso y ver si había algo allí since there was last time, like mi corazón was bursting with joy. Plus, I feel hella connected to her...I want to hold her again, soothe her from her panic attacks, escuchar su voz y su risa...verla sonreír...protect her from anything and everything. I get hella sad when I realize I can't do any of those things."
I wanted her to do that again and see if there was anything there. Hear her voice and her laugh...see her smile
"Lo siento, sweetheart," Karla tells her sympathetically and squeezes her hands. "Rezo todos los días para que regresen a salvo y que su monstruo finalmente esté muerto."
I pray every day that they make a safe return and that their monster is finally dead.
"Yo también."
Me too.
"I'll watch her for you," Lolly volunteers when she sees them the next day in the same area. They've gotten to know her a little better. "She'll have fun riding in the cart, won't you, kiddo? I'll make sure she stays warm and safe."
Raiza nods eagerly. "Pleeeease, Mama? Can I?"
"Gracias...pero she's a squirmy one when she's awake, she likes to explore, so you need to keep your eyes on her and don't let her climb out unless you're gonna hold her hand," Blanca instructs the older lady.
"I will." Lolly salutes her.
Blanca nods cautiously. "Okay." She squats to Raiza's level and gives her a hug. "Okay, do you remember where I work, princesita?"
Raiza scrunches up her face in thought. "¡Con viejos!"
"Sí, that's right. Y la canción to help you spell the name of the place I'll be at if you get lost?"
"¡Las muñecas me envian felicidad...veamos todas las muñecas...queremos ir a la playa con ellas, a las niñas les encanta esto...es la verdaaaaad!" Raiza recites.
the dolls send me happiness, let's see all the dolls, let's go to the beach with them, girls love this, it's true!
Blanca, Maritza, and Lolly clap together for her. "¡Muy bien!" Blanca congratulates her youngest and squeezes her in a hug while kissing her cheek. "I'm so proud of you, bebecita."
"Yeah, great job, Raiza!" Maritza chimes in and hi-fives her little sister.
"Cute song, even if I didn't understand it," Lolly adds.
"Gracias," Raiza tells her politely. She jumps up and down. "Bye-bye, Mama y Mari!"
"I'm not going yet!" Maritza informs her while she and Blanca share an embrace. "I'll be here for another dos horas."
two hours.
"Oh, okay..."
"Mami, you're so lucky you get to wear a light blue uniform! I gotta dress as a stereotypical maid," Maritza complains.
"Oh, that sucks! So rude of Vee. Lo siento, nena," Blanca tells her sympathetically and pecks her temple.
"Have fun in your career, Blanca!" Lolly waves her off along with the children.
"Thanks!" Blanca spares a last glance at her girls before trudging off to Levine Home for the Aged.
"Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, hey!" Raiza sings loudly and she and Lolly both crack up as they go by the shops on the streets of New York City.
"No, that's not it! The Batmobile lost a wheel, and the Joker got away!" Lolly corrects her.
Raiza sticks her tongue out at the lady as she swings her legs back and forth. "So? How'm I s'posed to 'member?"
Lolly raises her hands in surrender. "I wasn't passing you any judgment, squirt. You enjoying the ride?"
"Yeah!"
A few minutes later of coasting, the cart comes to a speedy halt and Raiza is almost jolted out of the front seat. Her heart starts beating fast. "That was scary! I don't wanna fall!"
"Sorry...ah, shit!" She kneels down while holding the cart. "One of these damn wheels won't move...I better get you outta this thing before it topples over." Lolly groans as she helps Raiza out and onto the sidewalk. "Your mother would kill me if I let you get splattered and bruised on the pavement. Besides, seeing people get hurt ain't good to these old eyes. It's quite sad!" Raiza watches Lolly bat the wheel around. "I gotta fix this first..."
Upon seeing two policemen in the distance, Raiza gets spooked and takes off into a sprint. One of them could be her daddy or friends with him, her mommy had said. Everyone seems so much taller than her and the air is extremely freezing. When her legs are tired and she can barely breathe any longer, she stops running and instead hides near an alley, watching for a nice girl or lady who could take her back to her mama. She can still see Lolly waving that stick with bells around and all of a sudden, the cops arrest her. They have her down on the ground and she's struggling.
Raiza gasps with fear and runs up to the first woman she sees. She taps the brunette from behind and is surprised to find that the friendly-looking face is much younger than she'd expected. This is a big girl, but Raiza doesn't know how old she is. She's dressed in old ratty jeans, a puffy green jacket, and her hands are stuffed into her pockets. Her reddish-brown hair is oily and blowing everywhere and she tucks it behind her ears.
"Oh, hi, sweetie! Are you lost?"
"Can you help me find my mommy?" Raiza blinks back tears, but some fall anyway. "She's with the viejos."
"I'm sorry...I don't understand what you said."
"It means old people in Spanish," Maritza explains, jogging up to them with a deeply concerned look on her face. Raiza sighs with relief and jumps into her big sister's arms. She wonders how Maritza had found her so quickly. "What's wrong, where's Lolly?"
"She got taken away..."
"By the pigs? Why?"
"I dunno..." Raiza starts crying into Maritza's embrace. "I want Mami..."
"Lo sé, we're going to her trabajo right now," Maritza assures her. She turns to the girl. "Thank you..."
"Allie." She shakes hands with Maritza. "Yeah, I thought she could've escaped the shelter or something...honestly, there are so many kids there that us older children can't keep track of 'em all! You're lucky y'all got a mama, these places are real bad, like dark and dreary orphanage bad. They'll separate siblings if one is a teen and the other is twelve or younger. You never wanna land in there...but at the same time, it's an improvement over being out in the cold and hunting for scraps like some wild animal. I'm twelve, so I'm in charge of getting wandering little ones off the streets." Allie walks with Maritza and Raiza to Blanca's place of work.
"Oh, well, if it's so horrible...would you wanna care for my sister instead? You seem better at it than the other woman was! Plus, I got a good job and can get us tons of food if you're starving."
"Really?" Allie asks eagerly. "Sure! Thank you!"
"You're welcome. I'm Maritza, by the way."
"It's nice meeting you."
"You, too."
Raiza squeezes Maritza's hand and the sisters smile at each other.
"Soleia, your children are in the lobby," the white, blonde, middle-aged boss informs Blanca. "The little one wants you desperately. Make it quick, please." She pushes her round, wire-rimmed glasses further up her nose.
"Yes, ma'am, thank you." Blanca straightens her uniform and wipes some hair out of her face that has fallen from her bun.
"I've told you before you can call me Ms. Wernick!"
"Sorry, Ms. Wernick!" Blanca calls over her shoulder. "I'll try to remember for next time." She rushes to where Maritza and Raiza are standing with a young Caucasian girl no older than twelve or thirteen. "Oye, niñas, ¿que pasó? Creía que estabas trabajando, Maritza." She cups her teenage daughter's chin and kisses the top of her head while winding her free arm around Raiza. "Bebé, ¿dónde está Lolly?"
Hey, girls, what happened? I thought you were working, Maritza. Baby, where's Lolly?
"It was scary, Mami, they took her!" Raiza wails into Blanca's shirt. "I got lost and I was really cold and-and I tried to find you, but it was too far..."
"What?"
"Lolly got picked up for panhandling," Maritza clarifies. "So, Raiza was left alone...good thing she went to Allie." Maritza pats Allie's back with a fond expression on her face.
Blanca gasps, horrified. "That puta had a record?! Last time I trust a lady stranger...ugh!"
"No, Mama, the wheel broke and she had to take me out and then they got her! I thought it was Papá and his amigos coming to steal me from you."
Blanca sighs sadly and strokes Raiza's hair while cuddling her close and pecking her cheeks and forehead a few times. "Oh, mi nena...lo siento mucho. I'm so glad you're safe!" She turns to Maritza and Allie. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome!" both girls say at the same time.
"Bueno, gracias a Dios que la encontraste. ¿Cómo sabías dónde estaba, Maritza?"
Well, thank god you found her. How did you know where she was
Maritza lifts her shoulders up and down. "No sé...pero I just had a sinking feeling in my gut that she was in trouble. I guess it's a sister thing."
"Entiendo, pero the exact spot...and you could really get outta work that easily? ¿Tuviste otra visión y resultó ser verdad?" Blanca knows all about Maritza's strange daydreams seeming more and more like she can actually see the future.
Did you have another vision and it came out to be true?
Slowly, Maritza nods. "Sí," she admits softly and Blanca just gapes at her, completely shocked.
Thank you for reading and reviewing, Juliette45 and MsSchneeheide!