“I got the perfect plan.” Maria said.
I didn’t listen to her. I just couldn’t hear anymore. I felt like I had just run amarathon and tripped just before the finish line. I was just in a state of shock. I didn’tknow what to do. I had no one. I had no money and Sister Abigail told me to never comeback. I had nowhere to go. I didn’t speak good English, and I had no skills aside from ahigh school diploma. I felt trapped, like a wild animal pacing an eight-foot cage.“Maria. I have to leave?” I whispered. “What?”
“I never had any intentions of staying. I just came here to help you settle in.” I lied.“Bullshit!” Maria snuffed, she saw right through me.
“Luisa, you’ve been living in a bubble. You need some quick lessons about life,” shesaid with a cigarette dangling from her mouth.
And you’re just the person to teach me, I thought.
“You need to learn how to keep a man, and to keep nasty bitches away from him,”she said while lighting her cigarette.
And you need to learn how to not abandon your children. I looked down sheepishly,afraid that she was able to read my thoughts. I didn’t know much about her. However, Ihad heard that she was quick witted, savvy and extremely conniving. In fact, manypeople called her iron tongue, because she could always lash back with a comment thatburned.
“No, really, I am going to have to go,” I said while gingerly taken a sip of my beer.
“And do what; get drunk off of palm wine? Luisa, I know damn well that you don’twant to go back to Sister Shortail, Mimigail, or whatever the fuck her name is. You don’twant to spend your life on your knees being a fucking fate whore,” she said pointing twofingers at me with the cigarette sandwiched between them.
“That’s an interesting way to put it.”
“Listen, Chica, I am you momma, whether you like it or not. I left you, and yes thatwas a mistake. I wanted to come back, but that puta kept me away,” she said.
I couldn’t look at her.
“You mean, Sister Abigail kept you away.” I finally said.
“Yeah. You know how many times I called. How many letters I sent? How muchmoney that bitch took from me?” she asked while waving her hands in the air.
“You sent money?”
Maria rolled her eyes in a full circle before she replied.
“That bitch! You mean to tell me that she never gave you a single dime of the moneyI sent?” She said.
I shook my head.
“Con las manos en la masa. That Puta got everybody fooled.” She leaned over andtapped some of the ashes from her cigarette into her empty beer can.
“Roberto!” Maria’s voice was piercing like a police siren. “Roberto!” She yelledagain. My ears vibrated from pain.
She opened her mouth to yell his name again, but I stopped her by volunteering to goand get him myself. Only I didn’t need to, because Roberto came stomping down thestairs.
“What,” he said while holding the ball at the end of the banister.
“What do you mean what? Didn’t you hear me calling you?” she asked.
“Yeah! That’s why I came down,” he said snidely.
“Boy, don’t get no attitude with me, go upstairs and get my large brown envelope.”
“What envelope?”
“Roberto, don’t play stupid with me, you know what I am talking about.” He turnedaround and ran up the stairs. Maria put out her cigarette and reached for another beer.Two minutes later, a brown envelope came flying down the stairs with lose papers slidingout of it. The envelope was empty by the time it reached the bottom landing, leaving acorrugated trail of mish mash papers up the stairway.
“This little motherfucker. ROBERTO!”
“Maria, it’s okay, I can pick up the papers,” I said calmly.
I gathered them into one single pile and brought them back over to her.
“This shit is all jumbled and messed up; now it’s going to be hard to find what I amlooking for,” she said while licking her forefinger and leafing through the papers.
“Se la chupo la bruja,” she said while holding up the paper in her hands. She handedit to me. I read it over briefly.
“This is the document that you signed forfeiting custody of me,” I said.
“Yeah! The only thing that bitch needs is an ugly nose and broom between her legs.She told me that I had to give you up because I left,” she said.
“But why would she say that?” I asked. It didn’t make much sense to me. SisterAbigail was never very loving or motherly. She was more cordial, like raising childrenwas an occupation with a very limited job description. She never did anything more thanwhat she needed to.
“Chavos!” Maria said while rubbing her thumb against her forefinger.
“Me and Nico sent her enough money to buy her own fucking church.”
“Think about it, Luisa, why else would she hide my letters? She didn’t want you toknow,” she said, pointing her finger.
“I bet that she said a whole bunch of shit about me too?” she said leaning back on thesofa and crossing her arms over her chest.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because I know how bitches like that work, they want to brainwash you and makeyou think that they’re the good guys, but really, they’re just witches heating up the stovethat they’re going to cook you in,” she said.
“She’s a bruja, her and Nico worship bad spirits,” she said mimicking Sister Abigail.I had to laugh. Her gestures and facial expressions were right on.
“You can never go to them, Luisa. You cannot allow yourself to be tainted with suchsin and filth. You must accept the Lord, Jesus Christ and abstain from pagan practicesthat He
