< 1 >

            She is carrying two big bags and walking my way. "Bye," she says, but I don't get why she is saying bye and therefore I don't say anything. Her eyes are fixed to the floor. She walks past me and keeps on walking. I keep on walking too. Before I reach the corner I turn around and look in her direction. She is leaving the alleyway; she makes a left and then she is gone.

            I take the string off my neck, and open the door with my key. I take my backpack off. My mom is in the kitchen. "Jaime, make the lemonade please." Making the lemonade is my job. My mom cuts the lemons for me and I do the rest. I know the trick, the trick is sweetening the water before you do anything else.                        

            We are having chiles rellenos, with rice, beans and tortillas. Why is she not here and eating with us like she always does? I want to ask my mom where Lola went, but my mom looks upset and so I'd rather not say anything. We eat silently and when we're finished eating my mom asks me to help her with the dishes. But Lola always does the dishes. My mom washes and I rinse, and when we are done she says, "I'll be in my room."

            "You're not going back to the office, mom"

            "No. Not today," she says and walks upstairs.

            I go to my room and pull out The Pirate's Island from my backpack. It's from the Choose Your Own Adventure series. I just need to read seven more books and I'll have read the entire collection. I lie on my bed and start reading. I read for a while and I use up all the possibilities on the left road. I start with the possibilities on the right. I go downstairs. I want to ask Lola if she thinks that I should talk with the tribesmen from the island or not.

            I knock on her door. No one answers. I knock again. Nothing. I push the door; it's open. The room is dark and cold. Her shelves are empty; her clothes are not there. There are some blankets folded on top of her foam mattress. Her mattress is bare. She left. But why? Why did she leave?

< 2 >       

            It was Sunday and we had already come back from the market. Triceratops and Deynonichus were in a deadly fight when someone knocked. My mom opened the door and said, "Oh, come on in, please come on in. The house is a mess, but come on in. I wasn't sure if you were going to come or not."

            It was the senora who sells nopales and she was with a girl. "This is my daughter," said the senora. They were the same height, they both had their long hair tied in a braid and they were both wearing black plastic shoes that were starting to rip apart, but the girl didnt look like the senora. The senora had a fat, angry Godzilla face, but the girl had a smooth face with lively eyes, a small nose and a bird mouth. She looked friendly. 

            My mom dried her hands on her apron and offered the girl her hand. The girl looked scared but she shook it. My mom and the senora then chatted with each other the way moms chat with each other until my mom looked at the girl and said, "All right, well, let me show you what you'll have to do and how I want you to do it." They walked in and my mom almost stepped on, and nearly crushed, Triceratops. "Jaime!" said my mom, "get off the floor and get out of the way nino," like she always says to me when my aunts come visit us.

            They walked downstairs, to where the big patio and the trees are. "You have to sweep very well. If you don't, the lemons that you didn't sweep up will start rotting and we'll have flies." My mom showed them the bathroom. "You have to mop and dry it really well, otherwise we get mosquitoes." She took them to the lavadero and showed her how she wanted the clothes washed. The girl just kept on saying, "Yes senora, yes senora," and the senora who sells nopales just kept on saying, "Pay attention, girl, so you do things right."

            Then they came to the middle floor, where the kitchen, my room, the little patio and the door to the street are. My mom told the girl about my bed, sweeping, mopping, the dishes, cooking. "If you don't know, just ask," said my mom, "I'll teach you." Then they went upstairs to where my parents' room is. And they were there for a long, I mean a long, time. I almost forgot about them. By the time they came down I had drawn a chalk maze for Deynonichus to solve.

            "All right, so I'll see you next Sunday," said my mom to the girl and opened the door.

            "Yes, senora," said the girl.

            After they left and my mom closed the door I said, "Is she going to work here?"

            "Yes, she is going to help us."

< 3 >

            Six days later, on a Saturday, I helped my mom clean the downstairs room, the one my parents use for storage. We put all of my dad's tools in one place. We took boxes that were filled with old magazines and old shoes off some shelves and put them to the side. "So she can have a place for her clothes," said my mom. She swept and I helped her hold the dustpan. Then she mopped and brought down a foam mattress from the upstairs.

            "She is going to sleep here?"

            "Yes," said my mom and I helped her carry down the sheets and blankets and helped her make the bed.       

            I had to wait a long time for her –she didn't get there until the afternoon—and wondered if she'd want to play with me when she wasn't working. I was looking at my book of experiments when I heard someone knock and heard my mom say, "Come on in, come in."

            It was her. "Thank you, senora," she said. She was wearing a pink T-shirt, a white sweater, jeans and her black plastic shoes. She was carrying two bags, and now that I think about it, they were the same two bags she had when I saw her in the alleyway.

            "Let me show you your room so that you can drop off your stuff, and so that I can show you a few things. I need to get going, it's late," said my mom. We went downstairs and the girl put her bags on top of her bed. "If you need more blankets, let me know." Then we went to the kitchen. "There is some food in the fridge in case you are hungry or get hungry later. And I'm going to give you thirty pesos. Buy two liters of milk from the milk truck –Jaime knows, Jaime can show you—and buy five pesos of bolillo and panes dulces for everybody. All right, I'll be back around nine and my husband should back by then."

            After my mom left she went to her room. I went with her. She started unpacking her clothes and putting them on the shelves.

            "What's your name?" I said.

            "Maria Dolores, but they call me Lola." 

            "And how old are you?"

            "Fifteen."

            "I'm Jaime Arturo Hernandez, but they call me Jaime. I'm eight and I'll turn nine in eleven months from now."

            I asked her more questions while she unpacked. She is the youngest of four sisters and three brothers. She lives in a ranch called Tambula, which is on the way to Celaya. I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up. But she doesn't know what she wants to be yet. "And why do you talk funny?" I said.

            "Funny? Funny how?"

            "With a funny accent," I said.

            "I don't know."

            I wanted to ask her more questions, like why she smelled like burnt sticks, or why there was a gap between her front teeth, but once I asked my aunt Adela that and she said, "Only rude boys ask those kind of questions."

            She finished emptying her bags. There were some comic books in the bottom of one of them. I picked it up and read the title, "The Spicy Adventures of..." but she took it away from me and said, "No. Not that one. Read this one," and gave me one that said, "Kaliman, the Incredible."

            I brought her my favorite book on dinosaurs from my room and I brought down Deynonichus. "Here," I said and handed it to her. "Keep him by your bed and he'll protect you."

            "Thank you," she said and put him on her shelve.  

            I picked up Kaliman and started to read it on her bed. I was on page 17, Kaliman was fighting the vampires when the milk truck honked.

            We went to the kitchen and I showed her where the big pot is. I put the string on the door and we went out and got the milk. I pulled the string and opened the door for her because her hands were full. "You have to boil it," I said, "but my mom always gets the bread after she gets the milk because they run out quickly."

            I put the string on the door and I showed her where the bakery is. We walked near the corner and there were some guys sitting near the light post and talking. One of them went, "Tcht, tcht," the way people do to dogs and said, "Hey you. Where you going, mamasita? My name is Julio Cesar when you need me."

            Then a different guy said, "Listen to el Chicha. This –and then he said a curse word: "fucking"—clown kills me." That was before I knew what that word means.

            At the bakery I got a barquillo for myself, a cocol for my mom, an emapanada for my dad and Lola got herself a concha. We walked back and the guy at the corner, el Chicha, said, "Tcht, tcht. Come here. Stay. I just want to talk with you. You're beautiful, mamasita."

            Lola didn't say anything and we kept on walking. I noticed that she giggled a little. "Are they your friends?" I said.

            "No. I don't know them," she said.

            "So why did you giggle?"

            "Just because." 

            We went back and she lit the stove. While the milk boiled I told her the story of the mice that had the plan of putting a bell on the cat so they'd know when the cat was coming, but of how when the oldest mouse asked, "And which one of you is going to put the bell on the cat?" they were all quiet. I was about to say, "What would you do?" when my dad came in and ran to the stove. He turned it off. The milk was bubbling high and about to spill. "Careful with that," he said and instead of getting mad he went, "Hi, my name is Oscar," and offered Lola his hand. "Let me know if there is anything I can do for you," and smiled.

            The three of us ate our panes dulces with milk, and when we were done Lola picked up our plates. She took them to the sink and she was about to wash them but my dad said, "Don't worry about that now. You can do that tomorrow. Here, let's go to your room and make sure you have everything you need." 

< 4 >

            The next day Lola picked me up from school; that was before, when I was still learning how to cross the avenue. I was telling her that if I were one of the mice that had to put the bell on the cat I would build a hot air balloon and drop the bell from above. "What would you do?" I said. But I didn't hear her answer because I noticed a kid my age playing next to my house with a green truck. We went inside and I said to my mom, "Can I go outside and play?"

            "Play in here, Jaime. Lunch is almost ready and I don't want you to get dirty."

            "Please," I said. "Just for a little bit."

            "OK. Fine," she said, "but you have to come in when I tell you to."

            I grabbed Diplodocus from my room and went outside. I went up to the kid. "Do you want to play that after millions of years of being extinct because a meteorite hit the earth the dinosaurs are alive again?"

            "OK," he said.

            We played and he let me borrow his truck and I let him borrow Diplodocus. "What's your name?" I said.

            "Lalo," he said.

            "Lalo. It sounds almost like Lola, right?"   

  < 5 >        

            My mom always went back to the office, but not today. I'd stay with Lola. She used to let me play outside with Lalo and Victor; but that was before what happened in my house. That way, after lunch, when she was done cleaning up, she could watch soap operas instead of watching cartoons with me.

            Victor is Lalo's brother. He is older. He is ten. He is fatter and browner than Lalo, but Lola is browner. We usually played in their garage and Lola would come and get me before my parents came home. But sometimes we played outside, like when it was marbles season. We were playing outside when I found out what to f is. One kid they call Joshe, who always looks dirty and always wins at marbles said, "That girl that gets the milk and the bread in the afternoon lives in your house, right? What is she? Your sister? Your cousin?"

            "She is my friend," I said. "And she helps my mom clean the house."

            Then he said to a boy I've heard they call el Tete, "What did I tell you? That's the girl that el Berna and el Chicha say they are going to fuck?"

            "Fuck? What is to fuck?" I said.

            But he didn't tell me. He said, "This preppie doesn't know what fucking is" and him and el Tete laughed.

            When we went back to Lalo's house –I made sure his mom was not around—I asked Lalo what it meant.

            "It's when the dads put it inside the moms' little hole."

            "Put what? Put it where?"

            "The weenie. In the mom's little hole."

            "The weenie? Are you serious?"

            "Yeah, the weenie. You know that girls don't have weenies and that they have little holes, right?"

            It's true. Because the next day when my mom was taking a pee in the upstairs bathroom –it just a curtain because the door needed to get fixed—I looked from underneath and saw that she was sitting when she was peeing, and when she stood up I saw that she didn't have a weenie like me. 

            "That's why moms sometimes wear those little diapers. With a little hole it's harder to hold it in," said Lalo.

            "What diapers?"

            "You don't know anything, do you?"

***

            When marbles season was over we started going to the corner store and watched how they played Street Fighter, but the machine is gone now. That's how I found out who el Berna is. El Berna's dad owns the store and el Berna was always in there practicing. He was the best one at it. I saw him beat the game with Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Dhalsim, and Bison. One day I was watching him play, I was the only one there, and he said, "Do you want to try it out?"

            I nodded. He put in a coin and I challenged him with Guile. He showed me how to make the Sonic Boom and I ended up beating him. I know he let me beat him, though, because I can never get past the third fighter and he can beat the game.

            I started stopping at the store on my way home from school every day because I wanted to see all the endings to the game. That was after I learned to cross the avenue, but before what happened with el Berna and el Chicha in my house. If there was no one playing, Berna would let me play for free and trained me. He showed me how to do tricks and special powers with all the fighters.

            One day I after I told him the name of the nine planets and explained him how the earth rotates around the sun and other things I learned in school he gave me a note for Lola. “Just tell Lola that Berna says that she is very pretty and ask her to come talk with me. Tell her I want to be her friend," and he gave me some chocolates for her and then he went, “and these are for you, Jaime, and gave me some lollipops and bubblegum.

< 6 >

            Lola started talking with el Berna and with el Chicha too. El Berna is tall and has short brown hair. El Chicha is short, has curly hair and has a small moustache. They don't look anything alike, but they are always together and talk like they have telepathic powers. They always know what the other one is about to say.

            They'd wait in the corner and they'd stop Lola on her way back from the bread. I always wondered what they said to her and so one day, when I was outside making a dam for the dinosaurs with Lalo and Victor, I walked over, went next to Lola and listened.

            "Come on, let's go to my room and listen to some music," said el Chicha.

            "Don't you get bored in that house all by yourself?" said el Berna.

            "I can't. I have to go," said Lola. "You're going to get me in trouble."

            "We're your friends, come on. Come on, just for a little bit," said el Chicha and tried to hold Lola's hand, but she pulled away.

            "I can't. The senora is going to be home any minute. You're going to get me in trouble."

            "Tell her, Jaime," said Berna. "We are her friends, right? Tell her she is not going to get in trouble."

            And although I knew my mom would get mad if she found out Lola went into el Chicha's room I didn't want to disappoint el Berna and said, "It's true. You won't get in trouble Lola."

< 7 >

            The first time Lola got in trouble was because my mom got home early. Every once in a while Lola missed the milk truck because el Berna and el Chicha were trying to talk with her or because she was watching soap operas or for other reasons that I don't know. She'd have to go to the next block or the block after that to catch the truck.

            "Where is Lola?" said my mom. "And why are you out here in the street? You're getting dirty. Who gave you permission to be out?"

            "Lola missed the truck and she went after it to get the milk."

            I went inside. I wanted to keep on playing soccer with Lalo and Victor, but my mom was upset and therefore I didn't ask her if I could stay out a little longer.        

            "She is taking too long. Go find her please, Jaime," said my mom. "I don't like this."

            I walked up the street, past the bakery and I found her at the next corner, near the pharmacy. We were coming back and she got ahead of me because I was finding interesting rocks for my rock collection. I was picking up a round and smooth stone with white stripes when I saw that she stopped in front of the store. She didn't go in, but she was talking with somebody. I picked up the stone and ran to catch up.

            I saw that Lola turned around quickly. I looked into the store and I saw that el Berna had pulled his pants down. It was big and hairy like my dads. He was holding it with his hand and it looked brown and like it was made out of cardboard. Lola said, "You're such a pig," and started to walk but once she was past the corner I saw her nod and giggle a little. I'm pretty sure neither  el Berna or Lola saw me.

            I know she got in trouble because that night I heard my mom and my dad talking in the kitchen. My mom said, "Jaime was out in the street and she was nowhere to be found. I dont like this." But my dad said, "Don't worry about it. I'll talk with her."

            That weekend I was practicing for the next marbles' season near the lemon tree, like I sometimes do. I'd just missed a shot with my best marble, the red one with yellow designs, when I saw that Lola was sweeping the patio. Without her noticing I walked to where she was. And I don't know why but I felt like pulling my shorts and underwear down. I did, and then went, "Lola look."

            She turned around. She looked confused and said, "What is wrong with you? Don't be a pig, pull your pants up Jaime." She turned around and kept on sweeping, so I'm not sure if I made her giggle too.

< 8 >

            The second time Lola got in trouble was also because my mom got home early. El Berna and el Chicha had stopped her at the corner when she was coming with the bread. I was with her because I wanted to choose my own pan dulce. I got a chilindrina. Lola kept on saying, "I have to go. You've gotten me in trouble already. The senora will be home any minute. You're going to make me loose my job."

            "What are you talking about?" said el Berna. "Just stay here for a little bit. Or what? We're not your friends?"

            "Yeah, come on, stay. You're beautiful, mamasita," said el Chicha and tried to hold her hand.

            But Lola didn't let him and said, "Sorry. I have to go." We walked back to the house, but as soon as we got back someone started knocking on the door. It was el Chicha; he was with el Berna, and with another guy that likes to sit in the corner, I've heard that they call him el Jarocho. El Jarocho always wears a denim jacket and a baseball hat that covers his eyes. And he is always smoking, and never talks. Oh, and el Joshe was there too, but el Chicha said, "What are you doing here? Get out of here mugroso!" an el Joshe walked away. El Chicha then turned towards Lola and said, "Come on Lola, let's just go talk in the alleyway. Just for a little bit."

            "No. I can't. I told you already, the senora is going to come."

            "Come on, just for a little bit. It's because you are so beautiful," he said and tried to hold her hand.

            She didn't let him. "The senora is going to come home and I'm going to get in trouble."

            "What are you talking about? We're your friends. We don't want you to get in trouble," said el Berna and put his hand on Lola's cheek.

            "Don't be like this. The senora is going to come home any minute. Just go, please." The way Lola talked confused me. It sounded like she was upset, but she was also smiling, so it looked like she was playing and having fun.

            "She is not going to get in trouble, right, Jaime?" said el Berna.

            I wasn't sure what to say. But he taught me the sonic boom, the hadouken and we were working on new moves. I shook my head.

            They kept on talking back and forth like that, until Lola went, "Just go. I don't want to get in trouble," and closed the door on them. But they opened it, the string was on, and they walked in. "Are you crazy? Get out! The senora is going to come. They're going to kick me out!"

            "What are you talking about? Look at me, look at me," said el Berna and put his hand on her cheek. "We're your friends."

            "It's because you're so beautiful, mamasita," said el Chicha and held her hand.

            But Lola stepped back. "Just go. Please. The senora will be here any minute."

            "OK. You want us to leave?" said el Berna.

            "Yes. Please."

            "OK. I'll leave, but only, and only, if you give me a kiss."

            "Are you crazy? No! Get out of here! Leave!"

            "If you want me to leave you have to give me a kiss."

            "You're crazy."

            "I know what it is," said el Chicha. "She is a dyke. She likes girls and doesn't like men."

            "I'm not a dyke," said Lola.

            "Oh yeah? Prove it," said el Chicha.

            "I don't have to prove anything. Leave me alone. Just go."

            "What? You don't like me? Not even a little bit?" said el Berna. "I send you presents. I try to be your friend. And this is how you treat me."

            "It's not that," she said. "You are not listening. The senora is going to come and I'm going to get in trouble. I don't want to get kicked out."

            "I'm not leaving unless you give me a kiss."   

            "Stop, just go!" she said and they kept on talking like that until Lola said, "Fine, but if I give you a kiss you promise you'll all leave?"

            "We'll all leave," said el Berna.

            Lola looked at him and made a quick motion, like a pterodactylus when it attacks. She kissed him on his cheek. But el Berna, said, "No. Come on! On the mouth."

            "No. You're crazy," said Lola.

            "Then, we are not leaving," said el Berna.

            And they kept on talking back and forth and it was starting to get dark.

            "The senora is going to come and I'm going to get in trouble. Just leave!" said Lola but she still looked like she was smiling. 

            "It's up to you. You don't have to get in trouble if you don't want to. You just have to give me a kiss."

            And they talked like that until Lola said, "Fine." She made the pterodactylus move again, but kissed him in the mouth.

            Berna said, "No. Come on! A real kiss. Not that bird pecking."

            Me and el Chicha and el Jarocho were just there watching and el Chicha went, "Yeah, that didn't count. That didn't count."

            Lola said, "Just leave. I don't want to get in trouble." She even tried pushing them out, but since they were too big, and not moving she said, "OK. Fine. But I don't want everyone watching."

            "All right," said el Berna and held her hand. "Let's go back there in the patio."

            They walked back there, and as soon as they did el Chicha said to el Jarocho, "Come on let's go," and they went back there. I did too. El Berna was holding Lola's arms and they were kissing like in the soap operas that Lola watches. But then el Chicha went up to them and kissed Lola on her neck and he put his hand on her behind. Lola pulled off and stopped kissing el Berna.

            "Are you crazy? What do you think I am? Stop!" she said. But el Berna was holding her arms and el Chicha kept on kissing her neck.

            "You know you like it," said el Chicha. And after a little bit its like she did. She was making a face that looked like it tickled but like she was trying to hold it in. El Jarocho walked over and started rubbing Lola's legs. El Chicha and el Berna each started to lick a side of her neck, like dogs, or like the vampires in Kaliman. "No. Are you crazy? The senora is going to come," said Lola and tried to push the off, but she couldn't.

            El Chicha put his hand on her breasts. El Jarocho knelt. He unbuckled and unzipped Lola's black jeans. She just said, "Don't be so cabrones. Wait a little bit. Wait a little bit. Stop. The senora is going to come. The senora is going to come." But el Berna and el Chicha said, "What are you talking about? Don't worry. You are hot, mamasita. Don't pretend like you don't like it."

            My room has a window that faces the street and across from it a window that faces the patio; the light was on. From where I was I could see the shapes of kids on the street trying to peek inside through the cracks in the window's curtain. Lola's jeans went down to her knees. Her underwear was white. El Jarocho started licking her legs and squeezing her behind. Her legs looked strong and like they were twitching. El Chicha began to unbutton Lola's blouse; it was white with little flowers. I could feel mosquitoes buzzing but I didn't want to go inside. My stomach was squirming, but I wanted to keep on looking.         

            El Chicha unbuttoned Lola's blouse halfway down. Her bra was white too. He unbuckled it from the back. "No more," said Lola. "No more, please. Don't be so cabrones. The senora is going to come!"

            "Relax," said el Berna. "We're being nice, right? If you want us to keep being nice, just stay quiet and relax. We're your friends, remember? Relax."

            "You know you like it, enjoy it," said el Chicha and lifted her bra. Her breasts looked big and her nipples chocolate brown and round like pebbles. El Chicha stuck his tongue out and used it like a snake, "I know you are horny." Horny, Lalo told me, is when someone wants to f.

            El Jarocho put his hand inside Lola's underwear, where her little hole is. She said, "Wait, wait. Not now. No more. Don't be so cabrones. The senora is going to come. You are going to get in trouble too." But she was confusing me again, because she made faces like it hurt, but also like she was ticklish and wanted to laugh.

            El Chicha was saying, "You know you like it. You know you are horny. Don't act like you are not," when he saw me. "Look at this. This little cabroncito has been watching," he said. "She is hot, right? Nice yummy tits."           

            "Jaime look," said el Berna. "Come here. Touch them."

            I walked and got closer. The truth is I don't remember if I touched them or not. Lalo says I did, he was outside looking with Victor, el Joshe, el Tete and other kids from the neighborhood. He says I even squeezed them and hanged from them. But all I remember is that one of the kids outside, I think it was el Joshe yelled, "The senora! The senora!"

            El Berna, el Chicha and el Jarocho froze and looked at each other. When they heard the door opening they bomb rushed, like in football, to the outside. Lola pulled her pants and fixed her blouse as fast as she could. I hid under the patio's table. My mom walked in. All I could see is that she had her navy blue office suit on. "This is unacceptable. We are going to have to talk about this," she said. She sounded very angry, like the way she sounds when I've broken something very expensive. She went back towards the kitchen. I came out from under table only after I heard that her shoes stopped banging against the stairs and that the door closed when she went into her room.    

            That night when I was in bed –I made an effort to stay up—I could hear my parents talking in the kitchen. "Oscar, listen, I dont know about this girl. What is going to end up happening is that in a few months she is going to pop up with a little surprise. And not only that. There were three guys! Three Oscar. Three! Inside my house! And Jaime, Oscar? Have you thought about that? She is supposed to be taking care of him; instead she is having some street guys coming over. Do you realize how dangerous that is? That's unacceptable. She has to go. I feel bad, but she has to go."

            "Listen, listen," said my dad. "You are right. It is unacceptable. That was not right. But we can't kick her out. She needs the job. I'll talk with her and I'll make it very clear that if she does anything like this again, it's over."

            "You've said that before."

            "Yeah, well. I'll make sure she understands this time."

< 9 >     

            But that is not why she left, is it? That was more than three weeks ago, before spin top season started. She stopped talking with el Berna and el Chicha. I barely see them in the corner anymore. My mom didn't want me to be out in the street so much so she started buying me the Choose Your Own Adventure books.

            At first I'd read them by myself because I thought Lola would be mad at me. But then one day when I was reading Galactic Trooper I asked her if I should take the slow and safer route around the meteorites or the fast and dangerous route between them to deliver the aid on time. 

            "Oh, I don't know. Take the fast one, I guess." I went to the corresponding page and read it to her. I started reading the books to her everyday and after that we'd watch the Thundercats. And sometimes soap operas too, like when my parent's didn't get home until late. She'd tuck me in. And because she didn't know any stories, I'd ask her about Tambula and she'd tell me about the chickens and cows and flowers and nopales. It was a nice way to go to sleep.          

            "Don't you miss your family?" I said one night.

            "I do. But I like it here too."

< 10 >

             So why did she leave? There were four or maybe five times when her sister came over: Juana. The last time she came she asked my parents for money and help. She said she'd just been raped and something about a lawyer. Rape, I found out, is when people f and one of them doesn't want to. That night I heard my mom and my dad talking. "She's a whore, Oscar. Did you see how she was dressed?"

            Juana wore bright red lipstick and purple eye shadow. She wore a small skirts, so that everyone could see her underwear, and a tops that showed that she has big breasts. "You believe her? You think she got raped? She is a crazy one. She is asking for it. Listen, Oscar," said my mom, "I don't know what happened to her and I don't want to know. But we are definitely not giving her any money. I don't like having her around here. I wonder where Lola gets the idea to have little boyfriends all over the neighborhood? Have you thought about that?"

            But Juana hasn't been around since then.

< 11 >

            There was that Saturday morning when my dad went into Lola's room to rearrange his tools. Lola was there but my mom was at my aunt's house. She always goes to my aunt's house on Saturdays and stays there until it's dark. My dad gave me my allowance and said, "What? You don't want to go outside and play?"

            I bought myself a top and knocked on Lalo's door. Victor was teaching me how to spin it on the sidewalk when my mom came home.  

            "Did you finish your homework?" she said. "Why are you out here?"

            "I did," I said, "and my dad let me."

            "Where is he?"

            "He is rearranging his tools."

            "Your father drives me crazy sometimes, you know? I've told him that I don't want you to be on the street all the time."

             I went inside with her and we walked down to Lola's room. She tried opening the door but it was locked. She knocked. "What's going on?" she said. "Open the door."

            After a little bit my dad opened the door.  "What?" he said.

            "Why was the door shut, Oscar? What were you doing?"

            "What?" he said. "It got stuck. I was just rearranging my tools and the door got stuck."

            My mom looked in. Lola was standing inside. Her fists were closed and she was standing stiff. She had not combed her hair yet; it looked messy. She was looking down, staring at the floor like in the alleyway.

            "Right," said my mom and walked upstairs. She looked upset.

            But that was last week, and my dad was just rearranging the tools. So why, why did Lola leave?

< 12 >

            I turn the light on and I notice something on the bed, next to the pillow. It's the Kaliman comic book. She left it for me. I look around some, on the shelves, on the floor, under the pillow, but I don't see it. Did she take it with her? Did she take Deynonichus? I hope she did.

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