Under the Same Sky Page 10

  “I wanted to go to town anyway, actually. I was talking to Luisa during the coffee break, and she mentioned that she’d like to go to the store sometime without Manuel so she could get him a present.”

  “For what?” I asked, feeling a little jealous at the idea.

  “Just because he takes care of her and is nice,” LuAnn answered. “Mom, is it okay if I go ask her if she wants to come with us?”

  “Sure, honey,” Mom answered.

  LuAnn got up from the table.

  “I’ll go with you,” I offered.

  LuAnn gave me a funny look, but then she shrugged and started for the door, and I followed. I almost never went out back to visit the crew, the way LuAnn and Meg seemed to do when Mom let them. And sometimes, I guessed, when Mom didn’t even know they were going. But I was eager to get a glimpse of where Luisa spent her time when she wasn’t working.

  There was another car parked in front of the trailers beside Manuel’s old beat-up one. “Oh,” said LuAnn, sounding disappointed. “Ginny’s here.”

  Ginny, I remembered, was the woman who came and taught English to the crew.

  “Luisa may not want to miss her lesson,” LuAnn said, stepping up to one of the trailers and knocking. Manuel answered, and I noticed his smile for LuAnn was a lot warmer than any he’d ever directed at me.

  “Sorry to interrupt, Manuel,” said LuAnn. “Is Luisa here? I need to talk to her for just a second.”

  Manuel disappeared and Luisa came to the door. “Luisa,” LuAnn whispered, “we’re going to Wal-Mart. Do you want to come, or are you right in the middle of your lesson?”

  Luisa glanced over her shoulder before answering, I guessed to make sure Manuel couldn’t overhear. “I don’t know when I will have another chance. I think I better come now, no?”

  LuAnn nodded, happy, I suspected, to have company other than me.

  I was happy, too. We all sat in the front seat of Mom’s van on the way into town, Luisa in the middle, squeezed into my seat belt with me. Her leg was squished right next to mine, and her skin felt incredibly warm and soft. For a few minutes that was pretty much all I could think about. I was actually sitting right next to Luisa. Manuel wasn’t anywhere near us. The only thing that would be better, I reflected, would be if I was at the wheel, making LuAnn unnecessary. But I wasn’t really complaining.

  I was so busy thinking these thoughts that I didn’t notice how quiet Luisa was until LuAnn asked gently, “Luisa? Is anything wrong?”

  “No,” she said. I could tell there was more she wanted to say, but she seemed to be hesitating. Maybe she wasn’t sure if she should speak up, or maybe she was choosing the right English words in her head.

  LuAnn and I waited.

  When Luisa spoke, it was in an eager burst. “When you ask me is anything wrong, I was at that minute thinking how there was not anything wrong.”

  LuAnn and I both nodded, not really knowing what she meant, and urged her to go on.

  “Ever since the migra come, I am scared. At night I am afraid to sleep. I think they will come to the door—crash!—like I have heard before. But right now, in this truck, I am safe. The migra will not stop this truck to ask questions. So”—she shrugged and smiled, spreading her hands wide—“I am happy.”

  A lump had swelled in my throat when she mentioned her fear, but I swallowed it and smiled back. LuAnn smiled, too. It was impossible not to, when Luisa’s whole face was flushed from happiness and from the effort of making herself understood.

  Nobody spoke for a minute after that. Then LuAnn said, “So, what are you thinking of getting Manuel?”

  “I don’t know,” Luisa answered. “I want it to be special, from me. Because he promised my father to watch out for me so much.”

  I’d never really thought about it that way before. Manuel annoyed me by always watching over Luisa like a mother hen. But it was good, really. She was fourteen and far away from home, and I was glad she had someone to protect her. I just wished he would realize he didn’t need to protect her from me.

  I tried to think of something special that she could give to him. “How about some new tapes?” I suggested. “He’s always listening to those headphones. I bet he’s sick of the same old music.”

  Luisa looked puzzled. Then her face cleared. “Oh, those tapes do not have music, Joe. They are lessons about—how do you say?—about your country, the Constitution, the laws. So he can pass the test and become a citizen someday.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid again. And kind of small and mean. All this time I’d resented Manuel’s headphones, thinking he was enjoying himself while I was suffering. And all the while he’d been studying.

  “But, Joe!” Luisa said, brightening. “This is maybe a good idea, to get Manuel some music.”

  I felt a little better.

  “Yes, this is good!” Luisa went on, giving me her brilliant smile. “You will help me to choose?”

  “Sure,” I said, although I had no idea what kind of music Manuel would like.

  Then she said wistfully, “I would like to get something nice to send to my little sisters and my mama and papa, too.”

  “We can do that,” said LuAnn enthusiastically. “They have lots of toys. And kids’ clothes, too. I love those little bitty sneakers for babies. They’re so cute.”

  “Yes,” said Luisa. “I would like to see my sisters in those. But,” she went on, shaking her head, “it is better to send the money orders instead. That is what they really need. Besides, Gilberto sent gifts back home to his family, and they never did get them.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “They were stolen.”

  “Stolen? How?”

  “At the border, at the post office, who knows?”

  “That stinks,” I said.

  She shrugged as LuAnn pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot. “Is what happens. People see a package from the U.S., they want it for themselves.”

  When we got inside, we headed straight to the music section. I didn’t know what Manuel would like, but Randy was easy. His favorite group, the Toe Jammers, had a new CD out. I checked the price: $16.99. Man. I tried not to think of how many quarts of strawberries that came to.

  Maybe Randy would like one of the CD’s on sale, I thought. I checked them out. Pretty cheesy stuff. What Randy would call “orthodontist office music.” I had to go for the Jammers or I’d never hear the end of it. I hoped he hadn’t already gotten one of his parents to buy it for him.

  Meanwhile, Luisa and LuAnn were looking at cassette tapes because Manuel didn’t have a CD player. I joined them.

  “What do you think, Joe?” Luisa asked. She pointed helplessly to the racks and racks filled with tapes. “There are so many…”

  “What kind of stuff does he like?” I asked.

  Luisa smiled and wiggled her shoulders a little. “I like music that makes you dance,” she said. “But Manuel, I think, would want to know what you would buy.”

  Surprised, I repeated, “What I would buy?”

  Luisa nodded.

  “Why me?” I asked.

  “Because you are, you know”—she smiled mischievously—“cool. All-American guy. This is what Manuel wants very much to be. Like you.”

  LuAnn laughed, then slapped her hand over her mouth. I could actually see the effort it took for her not to make some kind of sarcastic comment about me being cool. But it was astonishing. Manuel wanted to be like me?

  I was trying to take it in when I saw two girls from school headed our way. I wasn’t sure why, but I hoped they’d walk by without seeing us. I didn’t feel like talking to them right then.

  Too late. They’d spotted me.

  “Hey, Joe!” Kelly called.

  “Hi, José!” said Laura.

  I winced. She’d obviously been talking to Randy.

  “Having a good summer?” she asked. Before I could answer, she put her hand to her cheek and said, “Oh, I forgot. You’ve got to work.” She made a pretend-sad face. “Poor baby.�
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  “It’s not bad,” I said quickly. Trying to change the subject, I asked, “So, what have you guys been doing?”

  They both looked bored. “Nothing much. Hanging at the pool,” said Kelly. “Randy and Jason are there every day, too.”

  “I have to baby-sit the Blythe twins on Wednesdays,” added Laura, making another face. “We should switch jobs someday, Joe. I bet you’d never make it through eight whole hours with those two.”

  Yeah, right, I thought, and I’d like to see you make it through eight hours of strawberry picking.

  “So, what are you doing?” Kelly asked.

  “Getting the Jammers CD for Randy for his birthday.”

  “Oh, I heard you guys were all going to Darien Lake,” said Laura. She made a little pouty face. “I wish we could go. I’m sick of the pool.”

  She noticed LuAnn then, and everybody said hello, except for Luisa, who stood back, looking down at the floor. I watched as Laura and Kelly checked her out curiously, taking in everything they needed to know about Luisa in one long glance: dark skin, out-of-style clothes, old, torn flip-flops on her feet. Looking at Luisa, I could tell that she, too, had a good idea of what Laura and Kelly were thinking about her.

  I felt suddenly furious. “Luisa,” I said, “this is Laura, and this is Kelly, two girls from my school. This is Luisa,” I added, wanting to make them acknowledge her.

  “I am happy to meet you,” Luisa said, smiling tentatively.

  “Nice to meet you,” murmured Kelly.

  “Yeah,” said Laura. “Hi.”

  There was an awkward silence. “Okay, well, see you around,” I said finally, and Kelly and Laura walked away with a little wave. Their heads met as they whispered to each other, and their high giggles floated back to us as we stood in silence in the aisle.

  “So,” I said to Luisa, trying to pick up where we’d left off before, “do you really think Manuel would like something like the Toe Jammers?”

  Luisa had that faraway look she got sometimes. “No,” she said suddenly. “I want to get him a shirt. Pants, too. Like yours. So he looks right.”

  Oh, man. Luisa wasn’t stupid: she knew Laura and Kelly had been sizing her up. I bet she knew that to them she looked uncool, foreign, inferior, poor—and she didn’t want people looking at Manuel that way.

  My fingers tightened on the CD in my hand, and I felt like smashing it. I wasn’t about to tell Luisa that Mom didn’t buy my clothes at Wal-Mart. My baggies came from a store at the mall where all the other kids shopped. Stuff there was kind of expensive. Mom ordered my polo shirts from a mail order catalog, because I was picky about the way the collars looked.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s go see what they’ve got.”

  LuAnn more or less took over at that point, which was good, because she’s much better at shopping than I am. She managed to find some shorts that looked as if they’d fit Manuel, and they were pretty cool looking, too. Luisa didn’t have enough money for a shirt to go with them, but LuAnn assured her that Manuel already had some T-shirts that would look great with the shorts.

  Luisa actually looked at me to see if I agreed. As if I was some big expert on fashion, or as if I’d ever paid attention to what Manuel was wearing, the way LuAnn obviously had. “Oh, sure,” I said, nodding wisely. “Lu’s right.”

  In the truck on the way home, Luisa clutched her bag as if it held treasure, and thanked us about a hundred times for helping her.

  LuAnn even wrapped Randy’s present for me that night. She handed it to me with a typical LuAnn remark. “Here. I’ve seen how you wrap stuff. No use wrecking a perfectly good gift.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  Then she surprised me again. “That was nice what you did tonight,” she said. “Just when I’m convinced you’re totally clueless, you do something that makes me think there’s hope for you.”

  She walked away, leaving me wondering if I’d just been complimented or not.

  17

  It felt strange to sleep in until seven-thirty the next morning. I’d almost forgotten the lazy feeling of lying in bed anticipating a day of nothing but fun and fooling around. For a minute I felt guilty, imagining the crew already at work in the strawberry field. But I shook it off, and thought instead about which rides I wanted to go on that day.

  Darien Lake was a huge amusement park, with lots of great rides, including some wicked roller coasters and cool water slides and a wave pool. From the feel of the sun streaming in my window, I could tell it was going to be a perfect day. I jumped out of bed to get ready. Randy had said his father was going to pay for everything, but I stuck a ten-dollar bill from my allowance into the pocket of my shorts, just in case.

  I was the last one to get picked up because I lived out in the country. Jason, Randy, his brother Tony, and Tony’s date, a girl I’d never seen before named Shari, were in the bright red SUV Tony had gotten when he turned sixteen. I’d assumed that Randy’s father was going to drive us to the park himself, and I was glad Mom wasn’t outside when Tony drove up. There was no way she’d be happy about having me in the car with Tony driving.

  Randy opened his presents in the first two minutes. As soon as he’d ripped through LuAnn’s careful wrapping job, he handed the Toe Jammers CD to Tony, who put it in and cranked the volume really loud. Jason gave Randy a hand-held computer game. Randy announced that he already had it and tossed it back in the box, which struck me as pretty rude, even for Randy.

  It was a two-hour ride to the park. It turned out that Jason had gotten a motorbike, too, sort of like the Thunderbird, only made by a different company. He and Randy went on and on about their bikes, bragging about whose was better and faster and all that.

  I was feeling out of it, and I tried to think of some way to change the subject. “My parents are going away next weekend,” I blurted. “LuAnn and Meg, too. I’ll be home alone the whole time.”

  Now that I’d said it, I hoped it was true. But it did have the effect I’d wanted. Randy and Jason both looked interested.

  “Cool,” said Jason.

  “Party time!” Randy crowed.

  Tony and Shari laughed in the front seat.

  “Spread the word,” Randy went on. “Party at Pedersen’s!”

  Oh, man. Why had I opened my big mouth? I thought quickly and said, “Forget it. You know how my aunts and uncles are always coming around. We’d get busted, for sure.”

  Which was sort of the truth. One of my aunts or uncles really might stop by to see how I was doing, if they knew I was home alone. But I was trying to prove that I could take care of things without Dad around. I wasn’t allowed to have kids over when no adults were there. The last thing I needed was to have Randy spread the word that there was a party at my house.

  “Aw, come on, José,” said Randy. “The danger of getting caught is part of the fun.”

  “Fun for you, maybe,” I answered. “I’m the one who’d get grounded for life.”

  “No guts, no glory,” said Randy.

  “Fine,” I said. “We’ll wait until your mom is away sometime, and I’ll spread the word.”

  Tony laughed and, to my relief, Randy and Jason did, too. A yellow Volkswagen went by and I saw my chance to change the subject again. I punched Randy’s arm and yelled “Punch Bug!” at the top of my lungs.

  That started a major brawl in the back seat. My dad wouldn’t have put up with it, but Tony didn’t seem to care what we did. He drove one-handed, with the other arm thrown over Shari’s shoulders, while she snuggled close to his side.

  I tried to imagine myself driving along, looking as casual as Tony, with Luisa by my side. Somehow, the picture didn’t come together. I couldn’t see myself being as cool as Tony, even when I was sixteen and could drive.

  After we pulled into the huge parking lot and found a space, Tony thumbed through his wallet and handed a wad of cash to Randy. “That’s from Dad,” he said. “If you run out, don’t come crying to me. Shari and I have big plans.” He winked at Sh
ari, and she smiled, took his arm, and drew him closer.

  From the size of the roll of money, I didn’t think there was much danger of running out. Randy’s dad never seemed to have a shortage of cash.

  Tony said to meet Shari and him back at the car at seven o’clock.

  “Okay, Tony. Thanks!” I called as we ran off to the ticket booths.

  Randy bought full-day passes for all of us, and we went through the turnstile trying to decide which ride to go on first.

  “Definitely the Mind Eraser,” said Randy, pointing upward to a new ride I’d never seen before. It was a huge, looping metal structure. At first I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. I’d never seen a roller coaster like it before. The riders hung from a steel track in shoulder harnesses, with their legs dangling down. They rode up a steep slope, then came zooming down the other side and up again into a dizzying, full-circle spin. Their shrieks—either thrilled or terrified, it was impossible to tell—filled the air. I felt my mouth go dry.

  “Come on! Let’s go!” hollered Randy, running over to get in line.

  I knew better than to wimp out in front of Randy. He’d never let me hear the end of it.

  We staggered off the ride a few minutes later, and got right back in line to do it again…and again…and again. It was weird, but watching other people on it was much worse than being on it myself. It was fun-scary, not really scary. After our seventh ride, we moved on to the Boomerang, the Viper, the Predator, and the Skycoaster.

  Then we went to the water park section. There were a few girls our age there, and I couldn’t help thinking about Luisa. I wondered how she would like being at the park, and realized I hadn’t seen a Mexican-looking face all day long.

  Duh, I told myself, they’re working. Did they sometimes come to places like this on Sundays? I wondered. I remembered the wad of cash from Randy’s dad, and I doubted it.

  “Hey, José,” Randy said, breaking into my thoughts. “Bet I can beat you at that.”

  He was pointing to a game booth where a guy was shooting a gun at some cutouts of ducks that kept “swimming” by, diving and ducking and flapping their wings to make it harder to hit them. There were prizes dangling from the ceiling, mostly stuffed animals of different sizes.