by Sam Hawken
No one came through the front door and hustled into the kitchen. Right about now Vilma would have arrived home after twelve hours at the hospital. She would have come found Jack and given him a hug and a kiss and asked him about his day. Even now Jack waited for the sound of Vilma’s Mitsubishi Galant pulling up into the driveway, but this time it would be Marina and not her mother.
Jack finished his beer. He put the bottle in a paper bag set aside for recycling. At the stove he put a big skillet on to heat and when it was ready he took two pounds of ground beef out of the fridge and crumbled it in. There was sizzling and the smell of searing meat.
A while later the Hamburger Helper was simmering when he heard Marina come home in her mother’s Galant. Jack heard the jingle of her keys joining his in the bowl. ‘Hey, Marina,’ he called out.
‘Hey, Jack,’ he heard back.
‘Another ten minutes, all right?’
‘Ten minutes.’
Lidia appeared in the kitchen, her phone still attached to her head. She rooted around in the refrigerator. ‘Do we have any more of that strawberry soda?’ she asked.
‘It’s all gone. Look, who are you talking to? Get off the phone and set the table.’
Lidia rolled her eyes and vanished. Jack thought she wasn’t coming back, but she reappeared after a minute, the phone in her pocket. ‘I was right in the middle of something,’ she said.
‘You can call back after dinner. Besides, you’re burning up all our minutes.’
‘Minutes are cheap.’
‘You’re not paying for them.’
‘What kind of Helper did you get this time?’
‘Beef Pasta.’
‘Oh, yuck.’
‘You’ll survive.’
Lidia set the table for three and put a two-liter bottle of Sprite in the middle for everyone to share. Jack kept one eye on the skillet so that it wouldn’t boil over and the other on Lidia. He wanted to say Lidia was like Vilma, but the truth was that they did not look much the same at all. Vilma said Lidia took after her father. Jack had only seen pictures of him once or twice and he couldn’t be sure.
Marina was ready when the food was ready. She was a tall girl, slender and dark-haired and brown like her sister, but very much like Vilma in the face and sometimes in the way she moved. When she entered she touched Jack on the arm. It was the same as a hug. ‘What smells good?’ she said.
‘The usual.’
‘I love the usual!’
Jack took the skillet off the heat. ‘Now you’re just poking fun.’
‘Yeah, maybe a little bit.’
‘Well, sit down and let’s eat.’
He doled the food out straight out the skillet onto the plate. Lidia wrinkled her nose at it, but she was already picking away with her fork by the time Jack came to sit down. They did not say grace anymore. That had been Vilma’s habit and for five years they had not done it.
At first they ate in silence. Jack was surprised at his hunger. ‘How’s Ginny?’ he asked finally.
‘She’s good,’ Marina said. ‘She’s going away next week to Padre Island.’
‘Going with her folks?’
‘Yeah, I think so. She wanted to know if we were going anywhere.’
Jack frowned. ‘I’ve got work.’
‘That’s what I told her.’
‘Her dad works in an office, doesn’t he?’
‘In a bank.’
‘Close enough. Paid time off. I got nobody to pay me to take a vacation.’
‘It’s no big deal,’ Marina said, and she looked down at her plate.
‘Maybe we can go when you’re done with this job,’ Lidia said.
Jack chewed, but the food was losing flavor. He washed it down with Sprite. ‘It’s going to run a few weeks,’ he said. ‘By the time I’m finished school will be back. But I tell you what: next spring we’ll all go together. Take the weekend. Or maybe a few days.’
‘Okay,’ Lidia said, and Jack knew it was not.
They were quiet a while. ‘I remember once when we went to Tampico. Remember that?’ Jack asked.
Lidia nodded. She was picking at her food again.
‘That was a good trip,’ Jack said, and he thought about the drive, the beach, and the nice hotel with the twin swimming pools. Vilma looked so healthy then. There was no way to know.
‘It was good,’ Lidia agreed.
‘Yeah, it was.’
‘I’m all done,’ Lidia said.
‘How can you be all done? You got half a plate to finish.’
‘I’m really all done, Jack.’
Jack sighed. ‘Okay. Just scrape your plate into the pan, all right? No sense wasting it.’
Lidia did it and put her plate in the sink. She vanished into the front of the house and after a minute Jack heard her on the phone again.
Marina looked at him. ‘I’m sorry I brought it up,’ she said.
‘What? No, you can talk about whatever. It’s good that Ginny’s family gets to go to the coast. You know it’s hard to get away in the summer. Everybody wants their work done when it’s warm.’
‘I know,’ Marina said, and she put her hand on Jack’s. ‘I said it’s no big deal.’
Jack had food on his plate, but he wasn’t interested in eating it anymore. He got up from the table and scraped off his leftovers. ‘I take you girls where I can, when I can,’ Jack said. ‘I don’t want to say no all the time.’
‘Jack—’
‘Yeah, I know: it’s no big deal. It’s just I have to make hay while the sun shines. Winter comes, there’s nothing but little jobs, and we’ll need what I can save up now.’
‘You want me to help clean up?’
‘Yeah, sure.’
He watched Marina deal with the food, portioning it off into plastic containers and stowing it in the refrigerator. Now was one of the times when he could see her mother in her, getting things done, not making a fuss. Jack put hot water and dishwashing soap in the sink. He washed and Marina dried.
‘I was thinking maybe I could find a job,’ Marina said.
‘Doing what?’
‘I don’t know. Part-time somewhere.’
‘It’s hard to find anything right now.’
‘I could still look. And then I wouldn’t have to ask for spending money.’
The plates and the glasses and the skillet were clean. Jack let out the water. ‘I don’t want you to think you have to work. We’re not starving.’
‘I know. Ginny got a job at the mall at the earring place and I might be able to get a few hours there every week after school. It’s something.’
Jack nodded. ‘That’s okay with me. But school comes first.’
‘Always.’
She stood on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smelled the clean fragrance of her, completely different from the antiseptic scent Vilma carried with her after a shift. Jack could see her in nurse’s whites.
‘I’m serious now,’ Jack said. ‘Grades.’
‘You don’t have to worry about it. Thanks, Jack.’
Marina turned to go. ‘What are you going to do now?’ Jack asked.
‘I’m going to my room. I’ll leave the door open if you need me.’
‘At least you’re not going to use up all our minutes on the phone.’
‘Minutes are cheap.’
He watched her leave and then he went to the fridge for another beer. He would not have a third. Two was the hard limit. He sat back down at the table and watched the sun lower over the roofs of houses on the next street. It would be a long time going down and he would go to bed when there was still light.
Lidia exclaimed something in the other room. Jack had his beer. Down the long hallway that split the house, at the very end, Marina’s door stood open and Jack could see her at her desk in front of the computer, typing. Everyone was doing something.
FIVE
JACK DID AS HE ALWAYS DID IN THE morning and got out the door earlier than he expected. As a treat for himself
he stopped off on the way to the Home Depot to buy a sausage biscuit and a large coffee. He thought of Eugenio and his cup and considered buying a second, but the moment came and passed and Jack did not.
The coffee was too hot to drink so Jack ate the greasy sausage biscuit in the parking lot before driving away. The Home Depot wasn’t far, close enough to see the sign from the sidewalk, and even though he was ahead of schedule Jack could see clustered men.
Today he knew who he was looking for and he spotted Eugenio quickly. He pulled up and put down the window. ‘Jump in the front here.’
He waited until Eugenio was buckled in before he moved away, ignoring the slowly coalescing crowd of eager workers.
Eugenio did not have a coffee cup with him this morning. Jack lifted his out of the cup-holder and held it out. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘Coffee.’
‘I don’t need it.’
‘Go on, take it.’
Eugenio hesitated and then he took it from Jack’s hand. ‘Gracias,’ he said.
‘De nada. It’s got creamer and sugar in it if that’s okay.’
‘It’s fine.’
Jack watched out of the corner of his eye as Eugenio drank. He wondered whether Eugenio had eaten any breakfast this morning or whether he was taking caffeine on an empty stomach. Buying a coffee took half an hour’s wages. It was a luxury for mornings when nothing else would do. Jack could live without it today.
They went to the lawyer’s house, and spent the morning taking up floor tile until the detritus was piled up in twin cairns. Dust lingered in the air and Eugenio’s hands were chalky. ‘Get cleaned up,’ Jack told him. ‘Let’s go get something to eat.’
They ate in a booth at McDonald’s, the sun slanting through the big window at their right hand, the golden arches painting a shadow over the table and the floor beyond. Jack noticed that Eugenio was always careful not to meet his eyes; he was always looking off to the left or the right, but never straight on. It was quiet a while. The restaurant got busy.
‘You do good work,’ Jack said at last.
‘Thank you,’ Eugenio said without looking at him.
‘I mean, I don’t have to show you anything. You just do it.’
This time Eugenio said nothing. He studiously unscrewed the cap of his water bottle and took a long swig. Again his eyes never strayed toward Jack’s.
Jack considered. ‘You know, yesterday I was just making conversation, asking about where you come from. Like I said. I didn’t mean anything by it.’
‘I have a green card,’ Eugenio replied. He said it simply.
‘I wasn’t going to ask.’
Eugenio nodded and for just an instant he glanced toward Jack’s face. Jack wanted to come right out and tell him, Damn it, just look me in the eye, but he did not. ‘I have a green card,’ Eugenio repeated.
‘I believe you.’
A new silence fell between them until Jack asked, ‘Got any family here?’
For a long time Jack thought Eugenio would not answer. Jack could see struggle on his face. He couldn’t be sure why he was asking at all.
‘No. There is only me,’ Eugenio said finally.
‘You got family on the other side?’
More quickly this time. ‘I have a wife. Two daughters.’
‘No kidding? I have two daughters. Well, they’re my wife’s daughters. I’m their stepdad.’ Jack went for his wallet and unfolded it on the table. ‘Here they are. The younger one’s Lidia and the older one’s Marina. This picture’s a couple of years old.’
Eugenio looked at the picture and nodded slightly. ‘My daughters are younger,’ he said.
‘How old?’
‘Eight and nine.’
‘You got pictures?’
Again the nod. Eugenio brought out his wallet, a battered leather envelope with a pattern stitched onto it. There were two pictures tucked inside and Eugenio laid them on the table like playing cards. These pictures, too, were out of date, but the girls were healthy and round cheeked and happy.
‘What are their names?’
‘Evangelina,’ Eugenio said, and pointed to the older girl. Then he put his finger on the other picture. ‘Antonia.’
‘Pretty names. Usted tiene hijas bonitas.’
‘Gracias,’ Eugenio said, and this time he raised his gaze from the table. They looked directly at each other for the first time, but only for a moment. Eugenio swept the pictures from the table and put them back in his wallet.
‘How long has it been since you’ve seen them?’ Jack asked.
‘A year.’
‘Long time.’
‘Yes.’
‘My wife was Mexican,’ Jack said. ‘Got herself married to an American, came to Texas, had her girls. And then her husband died. We got together a while later, hitched up. She got sick. Been gone five years now.’
‘You raise your wife’s daughters on your own?’ Eugenio asked.
‘Yeah, it’s just me. I keep ’em in school; keep ’em in clothes and food. They got Mexican family and we keep in touch, but they’re Americans. I don’t think they’d know what to do with themselves if they had to live across the border. They’ve got… what is it? Marina calls it “first-world problems.” Like their cell phone doesn’t work or they don’t have enough money for the mall.’
Eugenio nodded again and now Jack sensed he was losing him. He wasn’t even sure what prompted him to talk except that Eugenio was another man who might get it, but Eugenio would not understand ‘first-world problems.’ Eugenio thought in terms of one day at a time, one dollar at a time, one job at a time.
‘Let’s get going,’ Jack said.
They got on the road.
There was roadwork along the way and three lanes were blocked down to one. Traffic inched ahead, blinkers on, everyone trying to merge on top of everyone else. Jack turned on the radio and waved a hand at it. ‘You got a station you like? Go ahead.’
Eugenio hesitated, as if the knob might burn him, but then he twisted through the channels. He came to a Mexican station at the end of the dial, broadcasting from across the border in Nuevo Laredo. Jack didn’t recognize the names or the voices of the crew, but the format was no different from anything played on the Texas side. He had some trouble keeping up with the rapid patter of the DJs making jokes between songs.
‘Funny,’ Eugenio remarked after a few minutes.
‘It is that.’
It took nearly half an hour to drive a single mile, but finally they were beyond the orange barrels and heavy equipment and on the road to the lawyer’s house. The urge to put the pedal down and make up for lost time was strong, but Jack resisted. Vilma always told him to be careful behind the wheel. He did not forget.
‘Gonna finish scraping down that floor,’ Jack told Eugenio after a while.
‘Okay.’
‘I figure that’ll take a while. If we have time, we’ll—’
Lights flashed in his rear-view mirror and Jack shut his mouth. A black truck eased up behind them, red and blue blinkers hidden behind the grille and flickering just inside the windshield.
Eugenio saw the lights, too, and Jack did not have to look at him to know his body went tense. Jack slowed until he found a clear stretch of curb in front of a supermarket and stopped. He put the truck in PARK and killed the engine.
He leaned over and opened the glove box. A little black booklet held his registration and his insurance card. When Jack straightened up again he saw two men out of the truck and coming closer. Neither of them wore a uniform.
One approached on the left, the other on the right. The first man rapped on Jack’s window and showed a badge Jack didn’t recognize. Jack put the window down. ‘I don’t think I was speeding,’ he said.
‘No, you weren’t speeding,’ said the man. ‘My name is Jesse Dreier, I’m an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The other gentleman there is my partner. Would you mind telling me where you’re headed?’
Jack wanted to look right and see Eugenio, but he
did not look away. He held the black booklet in his hands uselessly. ‘I’m a contractor. I’m headed out to a work site.’
‘This man with you is your employee?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Would you mind stepping out of the vehicle, please, sir?’
He did as he was told, vaguely aware that the other man was opening Eugenio’s door and telling him in Spanish to get out of the truck. Jack saw that Dreier had a gun holstered at his hip and what Jack first took to be a stocky build he realized was due to the man’s body armor.
‘Let’s go over here,’ Dreier said, and he pointed toward his truck. The lights were still flashing. They stopped by the front bumper. Jack’s back was to Eugenio now and he could not hear what they were saying.
Dreier looked at Jack. ‘How long has that man been your employee?’
‘A couple days.’
‘You’re hiring him as a day laborer?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Have you requested any legal paperwork from him? A work permit? Anything like that?’
‘He says he has a green card.’
‘Have you seen it?’
‘Well, no. I didn’t ask to see it.’
‘So he’s not an American citizen,’ Dreier said.
‘No. He says he’s from Anáhuac.’
‘Okay. Can I have a look at your ID, please, sir?’
Jack brought out his wallet and showed the man his driver’s license. Dreier slipped it out of its plastic sheath and handed the wallet back. He went to the truck and got inside. Jack saw him dial a cell phone.
He glanced back toward Eugenio, half-expecting to see Eugenio on the ground, the ICE agent on his back with cuffs, but the two were only talking. Dreier’s partner turned a small card over and over in his hands.
Dreier emerged from his truck and returned Jack’s license. ‘Thanks, Mr Searle, I appreciate it.’
‘Is there going to be trouble here?’ Jack asked.
The man looked at Jack without expression. ‘No trouble. We’re just trying to sort some things out.’
‘I’m just asking.’