Thank you for beta'ing, MsSchneeheide!
Before therapy, Alex carries Michelle into the waiting room via piggyback. Daya salutes Alex, who nods in acknowledgement. Michelle's in a blue vest, white shirt, and jeans. She jumps down from her girlfriend and they hold hands as they sit.
"Nah, I'm tellin' you, Zandra, Gloria could bang a pot on the counter to get everyone to be quiet, Cindy could bang a clipboard…there's six hundred and thirty-five kids at the school and only one of him, we'd totally kick his ass if he stepped foot in there!"
Alex shakes her head no. "A riot is just not worth the trouble, Chelle. I'd wanna surrender by the end of it. I hate that ogre just as much as you do, but I really don't think he's coming back to Martin Van Buren High. I'm going to Dembry Business School next fall…I can't think about this shit, he's history!"
"If he comes back, a riot seems like a great idea…I bet you got chia pets and blended kale when you got home from school!" Daya tells Alex with a scowl.
Frowning, Alex folds her arms across her chest and cocks an eyebrow at Daya. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't know what it was really like when he ruled the school. He probably didn't treat you that badly, because you're white."
"That two hundred fifty pound warthog called Piper January Jones!" Alex snaps.
"I could see it," Ceci fires back, and Elena stifles a giggle. "Come on, that's nothin'."
"Chicas, basta," Gloria lectures her daughters.
"That armed, bloodthirsty maniac even broke Alex's left arm once, putting it into a sling. He didn't care about the color of our skin," Red informs Daya. "He was violent to all women to overcompensate for his being gay and feminine!"
Aleida turns to Daya, whose mouth is open in shock. "Yeah, me, Glo, and Blanca discussed that while smoking one time."
"It all started when this maximum security prisoner Luis Hernandez was homophobic towards Piscatella," Red chimes in. "According to Mr. Caputo, he was trying to get rid of Piscatella anyway, but he got away with boiling an inmate alive. The ad for a job application at the school says people just need a GED and no felonies. Mr. Caputo doesn't know how Luschek got hired. He actually gives a shit about the students and staff, but Fig pretends to think it's lame."
"Yeah, Caputo said once that the female prisoners at his old job were born a couple miles south of hardship and took the only road in sight…that's a SideBoob lyric from 'Misery Road', so of course he'd care about us, too," Gloria adds.
"I also heard from my boyfriend's dad that Caputo was on paid suspension from being the warden and watched porn at twelve-twenty-three in the afternoon while eating Cap'n Crunch cereal and was bothered by Mr. Khanna bouncing a ball. That's Adarsh's father, by the way," Daya murmurs.
Flaca rolls her eyes. "TMI, too!"
"Mm-hm," Maritza agrees. She still has her French braids in from when Flaca did them two days prior. When they start to look bad and come apart, she'll wash her hair.
Lourdes steps out of the doorway, her beige purse on her shoulder. "Ladies, are you ready to begin our session?"
"Yes," they all reply in unison and follow her inside.
It starts with Red describing how Piscatella trapped her in a dark, dank room and terrorized her until she confessed about five dead bodies in the freezer. "They were people who deserved to die. I was so groggy that my vision was blurry," Red continues to explain as the others listen in horror. "That six foot four koshmar…that's nightmare in Russian, he tied my ankles together and tried to break me down, just because I was so well respected at the school. Piscatella ripped the tape off Boo's mouth and then took the medal with the red, white, and blue ribbon off my neck and started to cut my shirt open so he could show my friends my naked body, he wasn't going to rape me, but he wanted to humiliate me and show that I was weak since my face could hide it well. He slammed his baton into his palm and got the angriest look on his face…" Red keeps putting on a brave face, but her eyes only show pain. "Vee left abruptly after scarring my face and laughing evilly about it."
"He kidnapped me and others, too. I tried to fight him, but he broke my arm, the one that has love is pain tattooed on it…we all heard the bone snap. Then, he called me a dirty cunt," Alex recalls somberly. "Gina even took a video of Piscatella assaulting me brutally and put it up on YouTube, but it got taken down after he was thrown into the slammer! Fig called Piscatella Caputo's pet gorilla and the video got six hundred thousand views on YouTube with comments reading squash the system, give the kids what they want, things like that."
"Years ago, when that abusive human refrigerator violated his restraining order one day, he brought along his crony who helped him bust out of prison and they mistreated us cafeteria ladies and Diane. I don't even know why we didn't have better security like we do now. The girls obviously defended us...landing them on his and Herrmann's true terrible sides," Red goes on, glancing between Gloria and Aleida.
"We did our best to, but y'all asked me and my crew to please stay out of it 'cause you didn't want us girls to get in trouble, and you could handle yourselves," Aleida pipes up. "The assholes were like 'yeah, listen to the kitchen maids!' and kicked us out. Boobs used to be drawn on the wall at school, that made Piscuntella really angry…he had us believin' he and his other fucktard friend were new maestros and we were under their command…but nah, they were lady-terrorizing invaders!"
"I bet they trained Humps and Dixon how to be nasty cabrónes. Humps was a huge sack of shit, but they both were," Gloria mutters. "I only knew of Humps when Nicky and Lorna were freshmen, Adriana Zuniga, Neri, and Suzanne were sophomores, Michelle, Joy, Piper, and Polly were juniors, and Alison was a senior. …they all went to high school together. He was in Alison's grade. Now, Polly and Piper may have been annoying and rude to the girls, but he was just a…"
"Disgusting racist pendejo who should've been in juvie since that time he pulled some kindergarten girl's pants down in fifth grade and grabbed her butt," Michelle finishes for her. "I tried to beat him up for it, get him off her somehow, but he landed me in the hospital. He probably turned into some poor chick's rapist pimp 'til he croaked in that brothel, gracias a dios."
Maritza keeps her face stoic, tries to breathe evenly, and subtly shakes her head at Michelle as a sign not to say another word. She shudders at the thought of that bastard; she also remembers him telling Dixon that Gloria was a real hot pants with a huge ass. She wanted to flip him off for saying that, but she couldn't, unfortunately. "I wanna kick him in the fucking face…just by the way y'all are describin' him. I bet Dixon also has a smurf penis, like Ouija said." She lets out an uncomfortable laugh, knowing full well that it's true, but then freezes, because she's not supposed to have remembered he was even mentioned a bit earlier. "Ya know, 'cause of his name. Who even calls themselves that, unless they wanna bring attention to it?"
"Eeew, I don't wanna think about his…" Elena wrinkles her nose. "Gross! You're probably right, though."
"He does actually," Gloria mumbles, her eyes trained on her freshly manicured nails. "No preguntes cómo lo sé."
Don't ask how I know.
"They were probably real good pals with Stratman, Dean, and Carlos too," Blanca says gravely.
Gloria purses her lips. "Mm-hm, y Arturo también."
"It's like they formed a little Bigoted Piece of Shit club, led by Piscatella," Taystee muses as she joins them.
"Sí. Piscuntella threatened to cut my tongue out," Aleida puts in. Maritza and Blanca gasp and Gloria squeezes her best friend's hand soothingly.
"That sounds like Chewbacca," Blanca mumbles. "He came into the backroom and started yelling so loud and aggressively that he reminded me of Dean. I defended myself with Piscatella's baton that I grabbed off his belt, but he still managed to just about split my kneecap, kick me in the side, and leave a large gash around my eye from where he punched me! Red tried to protect me, though."
"She did the same with me when I went to Martin Van Buren the day he and Herrmann invaded. My estranged mom Cathy used to be the radio announcer there and they were having a bring your kids to work day." Michelle chimes in.
"My other friends, Anita and Emily Gerrman, were making fun of the Christmas in Vienna photo of Piscatella, and I recommended they check out Arabian Fantasy…" Red chuckles, remembering. "The gingerbread houses and napkins were the same shade of red! His photos were from his first place at the Dutchess County Fair. Blind people aren't able to see, but those with too much pride choose not to. He was a blind cow! He thought my life was going nowhere, but I told him that was completely the other way around."
"Yeah! Everything is his fault," Taystee mutters. "I was gonna shoot him as he was coming out of the fire-filled cottage after the kidnapping, but Cindy encouraged me not to. It was like The Purge when Piscatella was around."
"Yes, he wanted my friends, such as Boo, Rosa, and Claudette, to see me get tortured," Red puts in sadly. "Before he kidnapped me, I was paranoid…I had my frying pan at the ready, I was going to hit Piscatella with it! I lifted my gaze to the vacant hall and then saw my friends gagged and bound through a window. He was pathetic, still is, and I spit on him! He had a gun pointed at my head… not at all a human being…actions speak louder than words, he said once, and inmates will trick you. He once held a knife to my throat, duct taped my wrists together and grabbed me by the hair, scalping me. He wanted to rid me of my mama bear costume because he just thought of me as a vain, weak, pathetic, frail, old cafeteria lady and the dyed hair and makeup was just a ruse to hide the ugly old woman underneath, even though I'm twenty-seven inside! I know I'm not the youngest person in the room, but come on." Red rolls her eyes.
"Gina heard him tormenting me. You see, Frieda built a secret bunker and she peeked through holes in a board painted to look like a farmer with a cow; she trapped Piscatella in the cow. She offered us toasted fruit brute, which is what Anita called him. Just outside the closet, Frieda and Norma heard a cry for help, and Gina, Anita, and Ms. Jones investigated. Frieda and Norma decided to join them for protection. Gina, Frieda, Norma, Anita, and Ms. Jones captured him after Frieda shot him in the neck with a dart, which he called a pushpin. Ms. Jones, Norma, and Anita got him to trip over a cord stretched from one side of the stairs to the other. Piscatella then lay unconscious on the floor in Frieda's hideout. Norma, bless her soul, she wrapped a pillowcase around my head as I gazed around in shock. Myself, Gina, Claudette, Rosa, Norma, Erica Jones, Anita, and Boo were able to throw Piscatella down another flight of stairs like a bowling ball! I nodded at Frieda and the group crouched around Piscatella. We then dragged the knocked-out bastard across the floor and sat him down into a chair for a confession. When he had his head stuck in the cow, I drank warm Pabst beer in front of him to celebrate. He called me a scum of the earth, but that didn't matter…he was just a criminal who was never busted yet, like myself, I added silently in my head…but I have lots more morals than him, which is why he's now and hopefully forever behind bars and I'm not. He started to retort something, but then started coughing, so I gave him a sip of my beer. He spat it back out at me."
"The bastard never learned from the experience, clearly; he felt no remorse for hurting any of the students," Alex says. "He actually enjoyed breaking my arm, and he's not afraid of the evidence being shown because he can get away with it, and people would stop caring one day later since those he abused were women or girls. He thought a twelve-year-old would edit it with a fart noise and share it with his friends and we'd be long gone from their memory banks. However, a million people had seen it and there were petitions to get him arrested…it worked!"
"He was a little man, figuratively speaking, because his hand could go around Alex's arm twice," Red goes on. "The video was quite compelling…people remembered it."
"What an asshole! Maria seriously believes we all could've beat that fucker, she ain't afraid of him, but Mari and me and the other girls don't wanna risk it," Flaca murmurs.
"Yeah…Lea Guerrera wants to shoot Piscatella too…I wish we could," Ceci comments bitterly.
"Realistically, though, mija, we can't take on Piscatella, he's too strong, everyone would need to unite," Gloria murmurs. She turns to the rest of the women and girls. "That's awful what you went through with those monsters…I'm so glad they're all gone now!"
Blanca raises her index finger in the air. "Thumbtacks! We should've used thumbtacks! You know, so we could make the Jolly Gay Giant fall on those after he slid around in the canola oil, like in Home Alone. Latinas all looked the same to him…"
"He won't bother anyone ever again, Mami, so we don't need to worry about that," Maritza assures her.
"How do you know?" Michelle wonders aloud. Her eyes sparkle with delight, as do the others'.
Maritza smirks. "Just got a feeling. Maybe someone injured him and his buddies in self-defense."
"Let's hope! Speaking of that, I came to terms with the fact that it was worth killing Aydin in self-defense," Alex states proudly. "I celebrated that with Chelle last night and my mom and Charles congratulated me!"
"Oh, good job, nena!" Lourdes tells her, and everyone claps and cheers. They all have a snack of muffins and bagels with cream cheese after.
"Sé por qué los chicos no están en terapia, they're working on that playground for the kids in their lives, pero what's up with you? I thought you always go."
I know why the guys aren't at therapy
"I'm busy, Maggie." Karla shows her the stack of papers on the kitchen table and then the open laptop displaying LexisNexis. "Trying to get poor Shani a green card by researching old legal cases. Hopefully, there's something about immigration in here."
Margarita nods in understanding and takes a seat next to her. "Oh right, you know a lot of legal stuff. You gonna be her lawyer, shortie?"
"They don't just hire anyone…I can give advice and help in cases like I did with Diablo and be my own attorney, but that's all. I gotta call Maria Ramos about this. She was able to get back to the States legally and she's a lawyer, after all." Karla reaches down to pet Nala, who's nuzzling her face against Karla's leg while meowing. "You just ate, silly girl! Yes, you'll have to wait," she tells the cat in a cutesy voice, and then returns her attention to Margarita. Nala goes back to walking around the room and drinking water from her bowl.
"Talk about rags to riches!" Margarita comments. "Wasn't she like, too poor to be Maritza's mami before?"
"Yeah, she wasn't much older than Blanca, either…like seventeen when Blanca was fifteen. What the fuck was Maria thinking? Luckily, one of Maritza's adoptive parents was a good person, and they all got out alive. She seems a lot smarter now."
"Blanca too, no offense. They don't have a saying called older and wiser for nothin'."
"At least she stepped up for Maritza," Karla snaps. "It's Dean's and Arturo's faults for abusing Blanca and Gloria, respectively…they were blinded by amor and didn't see red flags. Mira, teenagers do real stupid shit, okay? Think of Aleida."
Margarita laughs. "She still dresses and acts like she's in high school! You stopped all that shit when you graduated. She's thirty-four…"
"Yeah, but I still liked the occasional crop top and short plaid skirt well into my twenties…until I finished college. I just wanted to feel sexy but not actually have sex with anyone except my boyfriend. Anyway…I worked in a law office until it got shut down because they were scamming insurance companies." Karla motions toward her monitor. "Finally, I found some examples of overturned deportation cases! Here's where I click." She points at the link and goes to it.
Margarita peers closer at the screen. "So, if Maria just points out how it's so dangerous if Shani is forced to return to Egypt, it could work?"
"Yes, but both she and Shani have to provide concrete proof. Newspaper clippings of honor killings, stories of what's happened to Shani herself because of who she loves, things like that."
"Oh okay…I hope it works!"
"Me, too! It better," Karla says determinedly.
"¿Crees que Maritza debería conocer a su madre biológica o incluso que le dijeran que vive aquí?"
Do you think Maritza should ever meet her birth mother or even be told that she lives here?
Karla sighs. "I dunno. She's made no effort to reach out to anyone about anything except for her job…she seems to have forgotten that Gloria, Aleida, and I were kinda friends with her in high school. Soy consciente de que ella no sabe que ahora Blanca es la mamá de Maritza, pero y si ella y Maritza se encuentran y Maritza la odia? Like what happened with Gloria's daughters at first? I'll talk to Blanca about it, see what she thinks. I feel like the longer we don't bring up the fact that she lives here to Maritza, she could resent us for not telling her right away."
I'm aware that she doesn't know that Blanca is Maritza's mom now, but what if she and Maritza meet and Maritza hates her?
"Yep…"
On Thursday in the kitchen's backroom, Maritza eyes a makeshift altar with a group photo of Karla's baby shower attendees. The wax is from melted crayon and Daya had drawn the picture of St. Anthony, or Eleggua, the Orisha name for him. Gloria always says to pray to him for protection, justice, and strength. "If I get a daughter one day, I'd name her Juliana Fernanda…after my tía. Flaca, how would you feel about moving to Massachusetts when we're grown?"
"That sounds amazing!" Flaca smiles.
"Sí, pero I don't have any hermanas," Blanca says confusedly.
"I know, I mean the famous Colombian singer, Juliana Ramos…she's my tía. Mami told me." Blanca nods at Maritza's statement in confirmation. "I've never really been able to contact her; she has so many fans, but I'm friends with her MySpace page. Although there's not really an emotional connection, I love her songs, mostly the ones about her life in Bogota." Gloria lights a candle. "Now, that is cool!"
Gloria beams proudly. "Santería requires lots of faith. Estaba rezando para que todos en esa foto estuvieran a salvo…I don't have one of Nicky, unfortunately."
I was praying that everyone in that photo would be safe…
"She is, thankfully…she writes me a letter every week," Red tells them.
"Oh, awesome, that's great!" Maritza glances over at Gloria. "Are you like a witch practitioner?" she wonders out loud. "Do spells and magic actually work for you?"
"Anything that helps me is good…and I've just always been lucky, because I'm Catholic-plus. I thought I was gonna have a girl, but I had Benny instead after Lourdes did her Santería. Arturo died in my bodega. I'm close to my hijas again. Vee tried to spew bullshit at me one time, but I told her off…I get my feral side from my tía…even made a tear come out of the puta's eye when I threatened her if she hurt anyone I loved! She was only my competition for Fahri at the time."
"The cunt played you, I'm pretty sure. She pretended to cry and be scared…she made you think she was harmless," Red points out with a distressed glare. She leaves to serve the students with Claudette, Norma, and Gina. Maria goes into the cafeteria.
Gloria blinks uncertainly as she watches Red depart, a troubled look crossing her face. She picks up the candle. Pinching the flame, she puts it out.
"Espera, don't you gotta keep that lit?" Maritza asks.
"Hell no, chica, está peligroso." Gloria brushes by her and she's suddenly in another universe.
It's dangerous
Arturo enters the bodega's backroom. The door swings shut and locks behind him. He goes into a room filled with lit candles and altars. He unlocks the entrance into the store. Leaving the door ajar, he hurries to the checkout counter. He sets his keys on top as he searches behind it. He finds Gloria's wooden box and sets it on the counter. Lifting the lid, he sees wads of cash wrapped in rubber bands. He closes the box and returns to the ajar door, forgetting his keys on the counter. As he steps into the backroom, the door shuts behind him. He opens the box again and stares down at it with a smile. His foot knocks over a candle on the floor, setting the altar ablaze. He puts the fire out with a cloth, but it continues to grow and burns the cloth. He races to the entrance but finds the door locked. He frantically searches his pockets for his keys. The flames rise high as he runs to the other door and finds it locked as well. He turns around to find the fire closing in around him. He tugs vainly at the door. He slams against it to no avail. A statue of a saint hangs on the wall, seemingly overlooking the grim scene. The flames surge and swallow him into nothing.
Maritza returns to the real world, leaning back against the counter and gasping in shock. "Did you have another one of your visions?" Blanca asks gently.
"I…I think I saw Arturo getting killed in Gloria's bodega, like it was spiritual revenge or some shit," Maritza responds. "Maybe I imagined that's how it could've gone, I dunno. I've never seen the past before! Nunca," she stresses. "Hay tantas formas en que podría haber sido quemado vivo y también supuse que quería el dinero que estabas escondiendo para alejarse de él."
There are so many ways he could have been burned alive and I also assumed he wanted the money you were hiding to get away from him.
"Whoa, you're psychic?" Gloria asks, surprised.
"In a way, sí." Maritza nods.
"That's mega cool, chiquita!" Flaca chimes in.
Maritza squeals. "I know! I feel blessed or somethin', like Gloria."
"Yo también," Blanca murmurs. "Incluso con todas las dificultades, todas hemos tenido suerte."
Even with all the hardships, we've all been lucky.
The others beam at this.
"Here you go, my best friend forever!" Blanca hands Karla the package of pudding cups which can feed a family of four. "You said before you were having a craving for this?"
"I still am, sister from another mister!" Karla takes it and grins jovially as she rips open one of them. "I'm really not kidding when I say I'm eating for two…not even my burrito was enough of a lunch, I need dessert!" She sticks a spoon into her pudding and starts scooping it into her mouth while gesturing for Blanca to have some. "Mmm!"
"There's advantages to working as a cafeteria lady," Blanca murmurs as she goes to town on her own pudding cup.
"Definitely!" Karla pauses to yawn. "Ugh…Nala was yowling all night, we had to keep reassuring her she was okay and the storm wouldn't hurt her, but I'm still tired."
"Oh, lo siento to hear that! I hope you get more rest tonight!"
"Same here!"
"I love the pink flower in your hair!"
"Gracias! Yours is cute, too!"
"Muchas gracias." The women share a tight embrace.
"Things with Fahri still goin' good?" Blanca asks Gloria later that afternoon as they watch their youngest kids playing together at the laundromat. The machines will drown out their conversation to their children, who are playing with the carts, stuffing paper into the quarter machine, kneeling backwards on the bench, and watching people pass by outside.
"I'm really fallin' in love with him," she gushes. "He gives me so many butterflies. We're soulmates...our birthdays are even close together, just six months apart! He turned thirty-five on December twelfth and I'm gonna be the exact same age on May twenty-sixth! When we went to the Indigo Club this weekend, just the two of us, I asked Pennsatucky how she and Nathan met, because I wanted to see how genuine male and female relationships start out and check if mine with Fahri was normal and a good sign. It is, by the way. I'm keeping a page of notes about how my friends and the younger girls met their boyfriends, getting the idea from Diane! She also made a list of all Charles' wonderful qualities. Seems like most of us began dating after friendship, and slow and steady won the race!"
"That's amazing!" Blanca comments happily. "So, you've heard everything about Diablo y yo…cuéntame más sobre ti y Fahri."
Tell me more about you and Fahri
"Bueno, sabes que éramos amigos en la escuela secundaria, así que ya confiaba en él. Completamente." Gloria smiles and twirls a strand of her black hair around her finger. "I know love at first sight doesn't always happen, but we've always had a deep, mutual interest in each other."
Well, you know we were friends in high school, so I already trusted him. Completely.
"Lo mismo conmigo y Diablo. I think that's why Dean abused me…he could tell that I had feelings for another guy."
Same with me and Diablo
"He doesn't need a reason, Blanquita," Gloria mutters. "He was a pathetic son of a bitch, plain and simple! Just like that asshole Arturo. Anyway, Fahri's even more mindful of my needs after discovering I'd been abused…he once saw my bruises and the fading of a black eye…and I flinched when our hands accidentally touched at the movies while sharing popcorn. He always makes sure he doesn't make sudden noises or appearances."
"Aww, how sweet and considerate of him! Diablo's the same, self-aware of things like that, ever since an incident where a man slammed his hands on a table beside us in frustration at Friendly's; he wasn't angry at me, he had just messed up something he was doing on his laptop. I froze, like literally froze, then tears started streaming and I was shaking. Diablo helped me move away from him since I was having a panic attack and then he comforted me in the restaurant's backroom. We weren't an item at the time yet, but he sure felt like mi novio."
"Oh, lo siento you got triggered by some stranger, pero good thing Diablo was there!"
"Sí, lo sé. I've had a lot of those when I was alone and could calm myself down, but Diablo being with me made things a whole lot better."
"I gotcha. I've been in your exact situation. Fahri también mejora las cosas para mí cuando tengo ataques de pánico. Plus, the first time I really saw him shirtless…whoo!" Gloria fans herself with a giggle and beams brightly while blushing. "He is ripped, girl, let me tell ya…"
Fahri also makes things better for me when I have panic attacks.
"Oooooh!" Blanca chuckles. "In high school or recently?"
"I never noticed how sexy he was until the girls played matchmaker with us. They sang a love song, 'Eres Tú' at mine and Fahri's first official date, probably hoping we'd catch on and dance together. We did, but actually…Thanksgiving was when I started thinkin' he was at least handsome enough to wanna ask out on a date…I was just shy at first. How about you, did you ever see Diablo sin camisa?"
"Mm-hm." Blanca grins so hard her cheeks hurt and she bites her lip, stifling a moan at just the thought of her boyfriend naked. "So many muscles. That six pack. Hotter than hell! Además, me senté en su regazo en la bañera mientras me dio un baño...¡ambos estábamos desnudos!"
Plus, I sat in his lap in the tub as he gave me a bath…we were both naked!
"Daaaaayum! Steamy!" Gloria winks at her. "Did you…¿sabes que?"
you know what?
Blanca smirks. "My mind went there, but it was seriously just us being physically intimate without sex. Skin to skin comfort."
"You also show a lot of PDA!" Gloria points out.
"What can I say, it's the honeymoon stage, we're in a fog and do things out of the norm, like public displays of affection."
"Oh, I see! Fahri and I haven't reached that level yet, we keep things low-key. I know you and I both been through domestic violence, but everyone copes with their past differently. Aleida had to tell me to check out his pad…his fancy crib, in her words, exactly. I was nervous about just showing up there randomly at first, like by myself. He invited me over, though, and said I was always welcome, and he made me feel like it, too. Although I had faith in Fahri, I once spied on him with Alison's daughter Farah as he was dropping her off at preschool, just to get a glimpse of how he is as a father figure," Gloria confesses. "He's excellent, of course!"
"I thought so! Do your kids like Fahri? Raiza just loves Diablo, and it took Maritza a while to warm up to mi novio, but she's cool with him now."
"Pretty much, sí. They're all protective of me…Elena and Ceci just about demanded he treat me right, and he promised he would. Benny and Julio are a little wary around him, but as long as I'm around, which I always am, they're fine. The boys don't really feel comfortable playing with him just yet like he does with Farah, play-chasing and growling, but he's rolled a ball back and forth with them in my bodega's backroom. They're okay with me play-growling at them, but just not anyone else. I've sometimes included them in how we play with little Farah, the monster game. They like to copy Farah and pretend to come after us, acting like terrifying creatures and then giggling when they both tackle me-or try to, anyway!"
"That's cute! I'm sure they'll get used to Fahri eventually, like Raiza did con Diablo."
"Yeah, I mean, they're comfortable with Leon…I've left them in his care several times while the girls, Daya, Aleida, and I were busy with each other. Fahri's just another example of a good male authority figure! Yo, he said he'll take me and my kids to Paris someday and order us all the Croque Madame! It's apparently quite delicious! Basically a fancy ham and cheese sandwich dipped in egg batter, then fried in a pan."
"Oh, kind of like a Monte Cristo?"
"Yep!"
"Neat! That'll be a fun familia trip!"
Gloria nods eagerly. She moves her hair over one shoulder, revealing a black tattoo of a flying bird on the side of her neck. "Check it out! I'm thinking of cutting my hair, like to my chin, so it can show better! He's taken to kissing it lately…I'm reinventing myself and my image to boost my confidence after my abusive relationship with Arturo."
"It's ultra-cool!" Blanca compliments her.
"¡Gracias, mi amiga!"
"¡De nada!"
Thank you for reading and reviewing, MsSchneeheide and Juliette45! Yay, 200 reviews!