When Father Chacón finished the Mass, the coffin was closed and Danny was taken in a hearse to the cemetery. We had yellow stickers that said “funeral” on them that we put on the windshield. We followed the hearse in our cars. Danny got his wish, because Auntie Lucy picked a spot under a tree that was on top of a hill. If you squinted your eyes a little, you could see part of the bay. Auntie said she thought Danny would like the spot. I wasn’t so sure because I couldn’t see very much of the bay, but I didn’t say anything. Tío Agapo spoke under his breath that he sure as hell hoped Danny liked it, since it cost an arm and a leg to bury him there. Tía Leti heard him and cut him a dirty look. Bet she gives him some of her hierbas in his supper tonight.

  Father Chacón blessed the coffin. Then everyone walked past it to say good-bye one last time. Eddie, Tía Leti, and Auntie Lucy stopped at the coffin and started crying again. My mom and Tíos Agapo and Esteban had to pull them away. The coffin lid was closed so I didn’t have to look at Danny, which was fine by me because I didn’t know if I could stand looking at him again. Finally, it was over and we went to Tía Leti’s house for the wake.

  I don’t know why, maybe it’s because people are sad, but I hate getting together after a funeral almost more than the rosaries. Everyone is glad it’s over with, which is why I guess they’re eating and laughing. Mostly, though, everyone drinks. Eddie drank so much Mom had to drive us home. Even Uncle Tommy was drinking, something I hardly ever saw. Auntie Arlene was asleep on the couch with an empty wine glass on the table next to her, and Father Chacón was buzzing around like a humming bird trying to help Gordo and Tía Leti with the food.

  Me and Corin ate some sandwiches and then went outside to hang out. The sky was pink again. I don’t know why, but every time it turned that way, something always happened.

  * * *

  That week I found out Raquel left during the night and married that razor-faced boyfriend of hers. I couldn’t believe she married that guy. He was ugly and creepy. Miss Maestas, who lives across the street, found out what happened from Raquel’s mom and told my mom, who told me. I was sad. I still thought I had a tiny chance with Raquel, even though I hadn’t seen much of her since she’s been with that dumb boyfriend.

  Boy, was I mad. And I was double mad because Raquel left me for that scarhead and didn’t even say good-bye. I tell you one thing, God, I hope you’re paying attention now because I’m not talking about little baby wishes like wanting candy or a new bike for Christmas. This is almost the same as people starving in Biafra. Maybe you’re busy, like Sister ’Lizabeth says, but start paying attention to me, will you?

  That night someone knocked on the door. It was Carmella, Raquel’s mom, holding a brown paper bag. Eddie answered the door and invited her in, but she wanted to stay outside. Her eyes were red, like she’d been crying. I was on the floor watching TV, but could see the door from where I was sitting.

  “Hey, Carmella. Entre. Entre. Come on in,” Eddie said, moving his hand toward the living room.

  She shook her head.

  “No thanks, Eddie. I gotta a lot of things to do, you know, with Raquel leaving and all.”

  “O’ye, I’m really sorry about her leaving like that. It must be hard on you.”

  She nodded again and sniffed loud. “It is. But hey, life goes on, y’know?”

  “Tell me about it. Tell me about it,” said Eddie with his Mr. Know-It-All way of talking.

  Carmella bent over and started opening the bag. “Raquel left a note telling us good-bye and saying where she wanted some of her things to go that she couldn’t take with her. She bought these tools herself, and said they were for Marci.” She stopped for a second and looked at me. “Said she was moving to an apartment with no yard and wanted Marci to have them since she wouldn’t be doing any gardening for a while.”

  Eddie took the bag from her, opened it up and looked inside.

  “Well, that was nice of her, Carmella. I’m sure Marci will appreciate this, won’t you, Marci?” he said turning to me. “Come over here and thank Mrs. Alvarado for these nice tools.” He turned back to Carmella. “You sure you don’t want to come in?”

  “No, no. I gotta go.”

  I got up and took the bag from Eddie. Together in a little pile were all Raquel’s tools. They were things I didn’t have: the claw, two different size scoopers, and a weed digger. I looked at Carmella.

  “Thanks, Miss Alvarado. I’ll use them for sure. If you talk to Raquel, tell her thanks, too.”

  “You’re welcome, honey. Be a good girl. I’ll see you later, Eddie.” She turned and walked away.

  “What’d she give you?” asked Eddie.

  “Her stuff for gardening. A claw for raking the dirt, two scoopers and a weed digger.”

  “Well, that was nice that she thought of you. Too bad she didn’t think a little more before leaving her mother and father. Carmella looks bad, man. Bad. I feel for her, having her kid up and leave for that low-life S.O.B. I swear to God I’ll kick your little asses to hell and back if you and Corin ever do that to me.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said.

  I don’t think he heard me because he went back to watching TV. I took my bag of tools and walked into the kitchen to look at them again. There was a small piece of yellow paper underneath everything when I took the tools out. It was a note from Raquel.

  Dear Marci,

  I’m leaving to marry Ruben and I want to give these to you because I know how much you like to garden. You’re a good kid. Don’t ever give up your dreams.

  Love,

  Raquel

  PS

  Grow some popcorn for me.

  I folded up the note and put it in my pocket. I wanted to cry, but I was afraid Mom or Eddie would see me, so I held it in. I was happy Raquel remembered me. Really happy. That night, after I prayed for everybody, I said a prayer for her.

  * * *

  What a day Tuesday was. The first part was just like any other day. Mom and Eddie went to work, and me and Corin went to school. At five thirty, though, Eddie didn’t come home. Mom cooked beans and chile, and we all waited around till six for him to walk in the door so we could eat, but he still didn’t come. At first Mom was worried.

  “Dónde está tú daddy?” she said, checking her watch. “I wonder if he got in a wreck.”

  “Probably not,” said Corin.

  “I’ll bet he’s at the bar,” I said. “He’s done it before.”

  “No, he always tells me now when he’s gonna have a drink after work.” She looked out the window, as if his car was going to magically appear.

  “He’s probably at the bar, so can we eat now?” Corin asked.

  “Yeah, Mom. Come on. I’m hungry.”

  “Bueno. Let’s eat. I’m not gonna wait for him anymore. If he comes home late and complains about the food being dried up, I’ll tell him it’s his own damn fault.”

  So we ate supper and watched TV. Right in the middle of The Beverly Hillbillies I heard Eddie’s car. I knew the sound of it, because he always did things to the motor to make it have more noise. Mom sat on the couch waiting for him to walk in. She looked mad. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her like this.

  I heard Eddie talking. He wasn’t alone. Corin peeked through the drapes.

  “Ooohh, Eddie’s with a lady, Mom.”

  “Qué?!” she asked, surprised.

  I ran up to the drapes and peeked, too. It was pretty dark, but I could see him leaning against his car talking to some lady who was laughing a lot.

  “He sure is. She’s laughing and he’s laughing.” Eddie’s arms were crossed in front of him and he threw back his head and laughed some more. Mom couldn’t keep herself away, so she poked her head through a crack.

  “Cabrón!”

  “Maybe it’s a good joke,” said Corin.

  “Qué pinche joke.” She closed the drapes hard. “That sonnavabitch.” She went over to the couch sat on it and crossed her legs.

  Eddie and the lady stayed outside laughing for a long time. Me and Corin looked at each other because we knew something bad was about to happen. The Beverly Hillbillies was still on and even though I tried to listen to Granny rant and rave about Jethro’s cousin, Jethrine, I couldn’t pay attention since there was a better show going on outside.

  “O’ye! Did I raise you two in a barn? Get away from those damn drapes.”

  “Aw, Mom, let us see,” Corin said, both hands still grabbing the curtains.

  “Come on, Mom. You know you want us to tell you everything Eddie’s doing,” I said taking one last peek.

  “I seen all I need to know.”

  “Nah-uh. No you didn’t,” said Corin.

  I saw it, too. Eddie’s arm was around the lady.

  “Get over here, right now!”

  “Okay, okay. But do you want us to tell you what we just saw?” I asked, pretty shocked myself.

  “No, I’ve seen enough.”

  “I don’t think so,” Corin said giggling while she still peeked through a crack. “Now they’re walking over here and his arm’s around her.”

  We heard the keys in the door and in walked Eddie with a tall lady in a short black skirt and red high heels. She had poofy blonde hair ratted up so much it looked like giant motorcycle helmet. She smelled like cigarettes and Prince Machebelli. And when she walked in she smiled and looked around like she didn’t care about anything. Eddie was smiling, too. Mom wouldn’t even look at them.

  “O’ye, Delia. I want you to meet a good friend a mine.” He put his arm around the lady and stood there facing Mom. “This here is Wanda. Me and her go way back. We were in high school together. I stopped off at Tink’s to have a beer and there she was. We started talking, catching up on ol’ times. And after a few drinks I told Wanda I wanted her to meet my family.” He turned to face her and moved his arm from her shoulder to her elbow, like he was giving her a tour of us. “Wanda, this is my wife, Delia, and my two kids, Marcía and Corin.”

  “Hi Delia. Hi kids.”

  Nobody said anything. Eddie looked at me and Corin.

  “Did you two just hear the lady say hi to you?”

  “Hi, Wanda,” we both said.

  Mom stared at Wanda, but didn’t say anything.

  “Well, Eddie,” she said looking at her watch. “I think I’ll head on out. It’s getting late, and I know these kids’ve got to get their sleep.”

  “Sleep? Hell, who needs sleep? These kids get all the sleep they need. Stick around and have a drink before you go.”

  “I don’t know, I feel like I’m imposing,” she said, glancing over at Mom.

  “Qué imposing. Shit, if I say you’re welcome in my house, then godammit, that’s what you are. Ain’t that right, Delia?”

  “Whatever you say,” she said rolling one eye toward the ceiling.

  “Marci, go get me three glasses and the whiskey. Sit down, Wanda. Make yourself at home.”

  Wanda and Eddie sat next to each other on the couch. Mom was on the lounge chair. Me and Corin were on the floor, watching the show.

  I got up to get the whiskey.

  “I don’t want nothing,” Mom said, yawning.

  “Oh, come on, Delia. This here’s a party. A reunion, hombre. Celebrate a little.”

  I set three shot glasses and the Canadian Club on the coffee table.

  Eddie filled two glasses and was filling the third.

  “I guess you must be deaf ’cause I said I didn’t want any. You and your güisa can drink it.” Mom studied her fingernails, then looked at Eddie like she wanted to kill him.

  “You’re gonna drink it because I said you’re gonna drink it.” Eddie filled the third glass, then slammed it down in front of her, spilling some of it on the table.

  “Oh, Eddie, let her be. If she doesn’t want it, don’t force it on her.” Wanda’s hand slid out for the glass easy, like she’s probably done it a thousand times before.

  For once, Eddie didn’t throw a fit about having someone do what he said. He either liked Wanda a lot, or was too drunk to care. I figured it was probably both.

  “Delia, do you mind if I smoke?” Wanda asked, reaching into a small black purse for her cigarettes. She pulled out a pack of Winstons. It was the same kind Mom smoked.

  “Do whatever you want. It’s Eddie’s house. Pienso que you should ask him.” For some reason, Mom wasn’t joining in the smoking.

  Wanda looked over at Eddie.

  “Smoke! Smoke! Light one up for me while you’re at it.”

  We never saw our dad smoke before. Wanda gave Eddie a cigarette, lit his, then hers. He took a puff and blew the smoke out toward the ceiling. I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. Mom stared at Eddie, shocked, too, I guess. He held the cigarette in a funny way, between two fingers, kinda like a girl. He put it to his lips, sucked it, then blew out the smoke with a kind of “tuufftt,” like he was spitting.

  Wanda and Eddie finished their drinks. Eddie took Mom’s drink, then poured another glass for Wanda.

  “Let’s toast this time,” Wanda said.

  “Okay, to what?”

  “Let’s toast to the future.”

  “Sí, cómo no? To the future.”

  “To the future.”

  They clinked glasses and started laughing. Boy, were they drunk. Boy, were they flirting, and right in front of Mom, too!

  Now it was Mom who looked at her watch.

  Eddie saw we still had the TV on. “Hey, turn off that goddamn TV! We got company here. Turn it off!”

  “Aw come on, Eddie. Gilligan’s Island’s on now.” Corin didn’t want to miss her favorite show. Not me. The show in front of me was a lot better than dumb Gilligan. In fact, I couldn’t think of anything better than what I was watching right then.

  “Eddie? Your kids call you Eddie? How cute. Kind of radical, like the hippies. I didn’t know you were so cool.” Wanda squeezed Eddie’s arm and giggled.

  “I don’t know if I’d call myself cool. These kids just like to make fun of their dad, that’s all. I’m always the big joke in the family it seems,” Eddie said, taking another tuufftt puff and looking at me and Corin.

  “Como un payaso,” said Mom.

  “What’d she say?’

  “Payaso. A clown. She said I was like a clown.”

  Eddie looked hard at Mom, like he wanted to slap her, but the cloud passed, and he went back to Wanda.

  “Eddie, you remember Rick Tafoya?” Wanda lit another cigarette. “You played on some kind of team with him? Football, I think.”

  “You played football?” Corin asked, surprised as much as I was.

  “Hell, yeah, I remember Rick Tafoya,” Eddie answered, ignoring Corin. “Nice guy.”

  “Yeah, and remember he was so big the coach made him a blocker or something? I used to know what he played. Let’s see.” She put a polished red fingernail up to her lips. “I can’t remember. He was just one of those big guys that stand in front of the quarterback, y’know?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Tackle, Wanda. He played tackle,” Eddie said, spitting out some more smoke. “What about him?”

  He probably wanted to know why she was talking about another guy instead of him.

  “You know he was married right out of high school to that Norma Fuentes?”

  “Yeah, I remember Norma.”

  “I found out she divorced him, just last year.”

  “Really? I thought they was gonna be together forever, the way they acted around each other.” Eddie put out the cigarette, but waved when Wanda offered him another.

  “Right, everyone did. Turns out ol’ Norma met some guy in a night class she was taking and next thing you know, pfftt! That was it! Said she was in love with this guy and so long Rick.”

  “Ain’t that a bitch? And Rick was a hell of a nice guy, too.”

  “Uh-huh.” She glanced at her watch again. “Well, it’s getting late, and I got to get going and let you all have a little peace.” She stood up and smoothed down her skirt. “It’s very nice meeting you, Delia. Eddie’s told me so much about you.” She held her hand out to shake Mom’s, but Mom just waved. Wanda pretended not to notice and turned to us, instead. “Ba-bye kids. Now keep up the good work in school. Eddie tells me you two are really smart in school. Nothing like me. It was a cold day in June when I opened up a book.”

  Eddie laughed. “Yeah, I remember, too. I’d be going to class, like a good boy with my pants hitched up to my ears, and there you’d be, standing across the street smoking cigarettes and laughing your ass off. That’s what I liked about you, Wanda. Always having a good time.”

  “Yeah,” she laughed. “I’d cut class and smoke all the time. I guess I was a bad girl.”

  “Was?” Mom practically choked on the word.

  “Yeah, Delia, but I think I’m slowing down a bit. Age does that to you, y’know. Having kids does it, too, though I wouldn’t know since I didn’t have any. Had me a hysterectomy at twenty-five. Can you believe it? Female problems. Doctors said if I didn’t have one I’d be dead by thirty. So here I am, thirty-one, and still kicking.” She held her arms out like she was a walking miracle.

  “Well, Wanda,” Eddie said, getting up to lead Wanda to the door. “It sure as hell’s been great seeing you.”

  “Good seeing you, too, Eddie, and it was nice meeting your family.”

  Eddie walked her to the door and opened it. She turned one more time and said ba-bye to us. We raised our hands up and waved. Eddie shut the door.

  “Ain’t she a riot?”

  “Ain’t she?” Mom said.

  “Ah, come on now, Delia! Don’t go there. Don’t go there. We were just having a drink and going over old times. There ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

 

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