Under the Same Sky (10 page)

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.

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 Shari, 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.

“We'll see about that,” I answered. I would have liked to just play the game and try to win a prize, but with Randy everything was a competition. He usually won, too, and that's what happened this time. I was used to it, I guess.

Randy picked out a huge teddy bear. The girls we had seen at the water rides came walking by, and Randy went up to them and asked who wanted it. They all went crazy over it, and Randy joked around with them, finally giving it to the one he declared “the hottest.” It was the kind of thing I'd heard Tony say.

Then Jason won a rabbit that was almost as big and gave it to one of the other girls. Randy kept forking over money from the wad, and we kept shooting until I won a prize, too. I picked out a giant panda bear. I held on to it, though.

“Oooh, isn't that cute? José wants a widdle beary for his vewwy own,” Randy taunted.

“It's for Meg, lamebrain,” I lied. It was for Luisa, but I wasn't about to tell Randy that. I had to lug the humongous thing around for the rest of the day, but if Luisa liked it, I figured it would be worth the hassle.

It was weird, but all day long—except for the moments when I was riding the Mind Eraser, which definitely lived up to its name—Luisa and Manuel and the rest of the crew kept popping into my thoughts. Everything I saw seemed to remind me of them and of my job: signs advertising strawberry shortcake, a game that offered Mexican sombreros for prizes, a tortilla stand, even a ride called the Hornet.

By the afternoon, I was surprised to find myself feeling bored and tired. Randy was getting on my nerves big-time. For one thing, he couldn't stop calling me José, even after I told him three times to knock it off. And he kept on challenging Jason and me to stupid contests or wagers.

“Dare you to toss the rest of your snow cone into that woman's purse.”

“Bet you're too chicken to swipe one of those prizes and run.”

“How much you wanna bet I can ring the bell?”

Was it possible I'd never noticed what a pain he could be? And how he was always showing off and making fun of other people?

“Look at that kid over there. What a load. I bet they don't let him on the ride 'cause he's too fat.”

“Look at that loser in the checked pants.”

“Quick, check out the toupee on that guy! Looks like something died on top of his head.”

I remembered I used to laugh at the stuff Randy said and did, but that afternoon I couldn't imagine why I'd thought he was so funny. Jason didn't exactly join in with Randy, but he seemed to find him entertaining. I was actually relieved when Jason announced that it was a quarter to seven and we had to head for the parking lot.

We found Shari and Tony waiting in the car. Shari didn't look so hot, and Tony rolled his eyes and said she didn't feel well. She lay down on the front seat as we began driving down the thruway.

“Look at her, dead to the world,” Tony said after a few minutes. “Girls can be such a drag sometimes. You know what I mean?” He imitated Shari, talking in a high voice. “The roller coasters are too scary, the other rides make me sick, I don't like shooting guns or throwing baseballs or darts, I don't want to get my hair wet…” He shook his head disgustedly. “I mean, why go to an amusement park?” Then he turned around and winked over his shoulder at us. “I met a hot chick at Jack's the other day. I'll take her next time.”

It seemed like a crummy thing to say with Shari right there in the car, even if she was asleep. I was leaning forward to look in the front seat and make sure her eyes were closed, when Tony pulled up beside a car in the right-hand lane. He was checking out the girl who was driving, giving her his movie-star grin and a little lift of his eyebrow. She smiled back. Then Tony gunned the engine, pulled past her, and sped ahead.

I closed my eyes, thinking I'd try to sleep myself until we got home. I guess I had started to nod off when I heard Tony swear and say, “Would you look at that?”

I struggled to sit up, and looked out the window where Tony was pointing. There was a car on the shoulder of the road, with the hood up and the engine smoking. Standing around it, looking bummed out, were seven Mexican-looking guys. One of them motioned for us to pull over, but it was a pretty halfhearted gesture. He didn't look very hopeful.

“Yeah, right,” said Tony. He stepped even harder on the gas, muttering, “Drive a decent car or go back to Beanville.”

Randy snickered.

“Hey, give them a break,” I said. “Maybe they can't afford a better car. They're probably sending most of their money to their families back in Mexico.”

“Or maybe as soon as they get a paycheck they go to a bar and blow it all,” said Tony, with a knowing look in my direction.

There was a time, probably even that morning, when I wouldn't have dreamed of contradicting Tony. I thought that everything he said was cool, and that he knew stuff because he was older. But what he was saying was stupid.

“Well, the guys who work for us aren't like that,” I said.

“Oh, sorry,
José
,” said Tony, frowning at me in the rearview mirror, looking anything but sorry. “I forgot those are your
amigos
.” There was a moment of silence, then he added, “The thing I can't understand is why people like your father hire those guys, when they could give jobs to real Americans.”

“Are you saying you want a job?” I asked.

He snorted. “What, picking beans? Are you kidding?”

“Well, you said Americans want those jobs. Like who?”

“Look, what I'm saying is they don't belong here. They don't even talk English. You know what I mean?”

How was I supposed to answer that? I shrugged and mumbled, “No, not really.”

Randy poked me in the side and said, “Hey, lighten up, would you, José?”

I elbowed his arm away and said, “Yeah, well, you guys don't get it.” Maybe there was a way to make them understand. “There are no good jobs in Mexico, in case you didn't know. They just want to make some money for their families, but people give them a hard time. Like the other night, some guys drove through the farm throwing stink bombs and yelling stuff like, well, like what Tony just said.”

Randy laughed. “Whoa! That must have been wild!”

“So?” Tony asked. “What's your point?”

“So it was a lousy thing to do,” I said, annoyed at the question. “It scared the crew. Meg was crying and everything. The police came. It was a big mess.” I wasn't about to tell them I'd been scared, too.

“Nobody got hurt, right?” said Tony dismissively. “Somebody just wanted to make a statement.”

“Freedom of speech, man,” Randy declared. “It's a free country.”

I couldn't help myself. “Lucky for you,” I muttered. “You get to say any stupid thing you want.”

Randy put his face right up to mine. “Oh, yeah? Well you know what, José? You're acting pretty freaking weird lately, if you ask me. Why don't you just move to Mexico or something?”

I ground my teeth together and tried to keep my mouth shut. What was I going to do, start a fistfight in the back of the car?

Jason said impatiently, “Can you guys talk about something else for a change?”

“Gladly,” said Randy, sounding disgusted.

I kept my mouth shut and counted the telephone poles passing by. I just wanted to get home. For once, I was happy that I lived out of town, because it meant I'd be the first one dropped off.

It was nine-thirty when Tony finally pulled into our driveway. As I got out of the car with the panda bear in my arms, Randy said, “You and your beary sleep tight now, José.”