At Elena’s donut shop on Monday afternoon, the woman was talking to herself in the back room. “This is just too much!” she cried. She came out to where Paul Morales and Abel were at the counter. Claudia hadn’t arrived yet. “There’s sixty dollars missing from my purse,” she stormed. “I know I put sixty dollars in my purse this morning before I left the house. Now there’s like a dollar and some change in there!”
Paul tried to reason with her. “Elena, you’ve been working back there the whole time you’ve been here. You woulda seen somebody come in and—”
“But I went to the bathroom,” Elena countered. “Anything could have happened while I was in there!” Her dark eyes pierced Abel and Paul like lasers. “I make little enough profit here without being robbed by my own employees!”
Abel felt like he’d just been hit in the stomach with a sand bag. He got an instant, blinding headache. “Elena,” he declared. “I’d never take money from somebody’s purse. I wouldn’t do that in a million years!”
“I didn’t touch your purse either, Elena,” Paul asserted. “I been out here the whole time waiting on customers. I didn’t even see you go in the bathroom. I thought you were sitting at your desk the whole time, probably with your purse right next to you. You think I’d go in that back room and try to steal something with you sitting right there?”
“I’m not crazy,” Elena Suarez fumed. “I put sixty dollars in the purse this morning because I was going to get my hair done. I put in three twenties before I left the house. Now they’re gone!”
Abel thought if he got any sicker, he’d upchuck. Some customers came in, and he and Paul waited on them. Then Claudia arrived. She noticed the tense atmosphere, and she looked around nervously. “What’s the matter?” Claudia asked. “What happened?”
“Somebody stole sixty dollars from my purse, that’s what happened,” Elena stated bitterly.
“What?” Claudia gasped. “You think somebody came in that back door and rifled your purse?”
“The back door was locked,” Elena answered coldly. She narrowed her eyes and glared at the two boys at the counter. “I don’t want to make trouble for you kids,” she advised. “I like you both. I know things come up. Maybe you need money right away, and you think you’ll pay it back later on . . .. . .”
“I didn’t take the money,” Abel stammered. “I wasn’t raised that way. I never stole from anybody in my life.” Abel was terrified by the thought that he might be in serious trouble, even though he didn’t do anything wrong. He’d been so happy since the dinner the day before. He’d been riding high. For the first time in his life, he had done something grand that made his parents proud of him. If Abel was arrested on suspicion of theft, his family would be devastated. He would be the first person in his family ever to get in trouble with the law. Abel couldn’t take it.
“One of you boys took the money from my purse,” Elena Suarez accused them. “What’re you trying to say? That you both stepped outside and some customer rushed into the back room and robbed me? But nobody knows I keep my purse in that top desk drawer except you guys. I’m very sorry to be doing this. But I want both of you to come in the back room and hand me your wallets so I can check them. My three twenties were crisp brand new bills. I’m sure I’ll recognize them.” She turned to Claudia. “Take over the counter, Claudia, while we settle this once and for all.”
A look of horror came over Claudia’s face. “Elena, this is ridiculous,” she objected.
In the back room, Paul Morales handed Elena his wallet. He had a crinkled five dollar bill and some change. Then Abel did the same. He had just change. He’d spent most of his cash on the Sunday dinner. He was waiting eagerly for his pay to replenish his cash.
“Turn your pockets inside out,” Elena commanded.
Both boys complied. Abel’s pockets contained nothing but lint and some sales slips. Paul’s had a movie ticket stub.
“One of you has hidden the money somewhere,” Elena decided darkly. Abel wondered what was coming next, a strip search?
“Lady,” Paul exploded, “I got a good mind to go out there in front and yank open the display case and toss all your stinking donuts all over the floor. You’ve humiliated us, and we didn’t do anything. You want to know what I think? I think you’re a crazy old lady and belong in a nut house.”
Paul stomped over to where his jacket was hanging on a peg, got it, and put it on. “I’m not working here anymore, lady. You drove your husband away. Now you’re making this stinking job so bad that I’m being treated like a common criminal when I didn’t do anything. And don’t get any ideas about calling the cops on me and sending them to my door. I got friends, lady. I got homies who got my back. If you try to make trouble for me, you’ll be the sorriest old bruja in the barrio!” Paul turned sharply and went out the back door to his car.
Elena Suarez watched him go. She shook her head as she spoke. “It had to be him, and the way he acted proves it. I had a feeling it was him. He took the money. He was probably hiding it in his socks or something. He gambles. He has debts.”
She turned and looked at Abel, smiling thinly. “I never really suspected you, Abel. I had to make you hand over your wallet and empty your pockets too. I didn’t want him to think I was singling him out. But I know you’re a good boy, Abel. I’ve had misgivings about Paul for a long time. I’ve seen him on the street with those awful boys with shaved heads.”
Abel’s head was spinning. Customers were coming in, and he joined Claudia at the counter. They wanted chocolate and glazed donuts and bear claws and apple fritters. Some wanted powdered sugar donuts and coffee. Whatever the customers asked for, Abel worked like a robot, with Claudia beside him. He didn’t believe Paul was guilty of anything. He didn’t care if he hung with homies. A lot of good kids did. Dom Reynosa and Carlos Negrete did, and they were good guys. Elena was being evil and unfair in accusing Paul of stealing her money.
Abel felt as though he was in a trance. The donut shop was busy for about an hour; then things quieted down. Elena Suarez went off to the ATM machine to get more money so that she could get her hair done.
“You think she’s gonna call the cops on Paul?” Abel asked Claudia.
“I don’t think so . . . maybe,” Claudia sighed. “She has no proof. But she could get the police to hassle him. Sometimes they hassle kids just on a tip. I hope not. She’s done enough to the poor guy.”
Abel turned and looked at Claudia. “What do you think happened to the money?” he asked her.
“She probably left it at home,” Claudia replied bitterly.
Abel remembered Paul’s frantic phone call in the parking lot when he was trying to hold off a debtor. “You don’t think Paul woulda taken it, do you?” he asked Claudia.
“No,” Claudia answered. “I feel so sorry for Paul. He’s been in a little trouble before, but he’s straightened out his act. He’s a good, bright guy. He’s in technical school, and he’s got a good future. I don’t want this stupid thing to derail him. This is so rotten. Elena is in a fog half the time. She loses stuff all the time.”
Claudia was silent while she wiped off the counter. Then she began speaking again. “I don’t feel like working here myself anymore. Now that Paul’s gone, whenever she misplaces money, we’ll be on the spot. Abel, I feel like quitting, but I need the job. I need the money to help my parents with my tuition. I love my school. I’d feel terrible if I had to drop out in my junior year and not graduate next year with my friends.” Claudia seemed close to tears.
“I feel the same way,” Abel concurred. “I’d like to quit right now. I would if I was sure I could get another job. But the hardware store just closed, and so did the chicken place. Lotta stores’ve closed down. Jobs are kinda scarce right now. I’m saving money for a car. And now I can do things like that Sunday dinner I made for my family and my friends. I feel better about myself than I’ve ever felt before.”
“I’m just so scared she’ll come after us, Abel,” Claudia said.
Abel took a deep breath. “Claudia, let’s look out for each other. I won’t ever go in the back room unless we go together, and you do the same. Let’s have each other’s backs every minute. If she accuses one of us, then we can vouch for each other.”
“This is so rotten,” Claudia declared. “I almost hate Elena. Isn’t that terrible? In my school, they’re all the time harping on love one another. But I’m having a hard time not hating that woman. But you’re right, Abel. We can stick together and make it through. We can.”
When Elena Suarez returned from the ATM machine, she looked at Abel and Claudia. Then she said with a self-satisfied smirk, “Well, don’t we all feel a lot safer around here now that that thief is gone?”
Claudia looked at Abel. She seemed to expect him to say something. When he didn’t, Claudia spoke up. “Elena, I don’t think Paul Morales is a thief. I don’t think he took your money. I feel really bad about what happened. But Abel and I, we both feel threatened now. I think you better lock your purse in that desk drawer when you leave it so nobody can possibly get in. I think you need to check and recheck the receipts. I think you’ve got a lot on your plate, Elena, with stuff at home. I think maybe you’re nervous and you misplace stuff. Abel and I don’t want to be accused of anything.”
“I trust you, Claudia,” Elena Suarez assured her. “And I trust Abel too. I always thought Paul was a shifty guy, but he was so good at the counter that I kept him. But if it will make you feel better, I’ll do as you say. My purse will always be in a locked drawer, and I’ll be very vigilant about the receipts. Then there won’t be any problems.”
When Elena went into the back room, Abel turned to Claudia. “That was good, Claudia. That took a lot of courage. I know I let you down. I should’ve said that.”
“No Abel,” Claudia told him, “you’re new here. I’ve worked for Elena for months. I was the better one to say it. I’m really ticked off at that woman. She gave Paul a raw deal.”
Abel wondered whether Claudia liked Paul more than she was saying. Maybe even they were girlfriend and boyfriend. “Uh, Claudia, is Paul a real good friend of yours?” he asked.
“Not really,” the girl answered. “We both started to work here at about the same time. He was always nice to me. He’s a good guy. I hate what that woman did.”
During the next lull in business, Abel worked up the courage to ask Claudia something he’d been thinking about ever since he started working at the shop. “Uh, Claudia, you got a steady boyfriend?”
“No,” she explained. “I go to an all-girls school, you know. We get together with boys from an all-boys school sometimes, but it’s kinda hard to form relationships. My parents are real strict, Abel. Lotta girls in the barrio get in trouble, you know. And my parents didn’t want that to happen to me. I respect that. I’ve never been a wild child. I’m kinda dull, Abel.”
“I don’t think you’re dull, Claudia,” Abel told her, warmly. “I think you’re really . . . great. If you didn’t have anything better to do after work some day, maybe we could go down and have a frozen yogurt or something.”
“Yeah, that’d be nice!” Claudia said excitedly. “I’ve gotten turned off of donuts since I’ve been working here. But a frozen yogurt on a muggy day like today sounds good.”
“Good,” Abel confirmed, his heart beating fast. “So after work we’ll stop at the yogurt shop. I go past it on my way home. I live on Sparrow Street. Where do you live?”
“Wren Street,” Claudia said.
“Oh, that’s where my best friend, Ernesto lives,” Abel told her. “After we have our yogurts, I’ll walk you home, Claudia.
As Claudia and Abel were getting ready to go home, Elena Suarez was very cordial. She apologized again for making Abel turn over his wallet and empty his pockets. “I’m so glad you’re working here, Abel,” she assured him. “I’ll get someone to replace Paul, but you two—you and Claudia—are just so good.”
Abel and Claudia were both sickened by the woman’s gushing, but neither of them said anything. They quietly got their jackets and headed for the frozen yogurt place. Once they were far enough away from the store, Claudia said, “Elena seems to feel a little guilty about everything. But a lot of good that does poor Paul!” Abel silently agreed.
On the way to the store, as they started down Tremayne Street, Abel saw Sarah Suarez and two girls coming in the opposite direction. As they passed each other, Sarah sang out loudly enough to be overheard. “Look, there’s old four-eyes, otherwise known as the wicked witch of the west, with that cute Abel Ruiz. What a shame!”
“Go stuff an apple fritter in your mouth, Sarah,” Claudia told her. Sarah glared at them and headed for her mother’s shop.
At the yogurt store, Claudia bought a strawberry yogurt and Abel bought a chocolate one. Abel talked about his Sunday dinner and what a big hit it was. “My parents never saw me do anything like that before. Their jaws just dropped, Claudia. It was so cool.”
“That’s wonderful, Abel,” Claudia affirmed, a big smile on her face. “Good for you that you attempted something like that. I mean, that’s a big deal. A salmon dinner and having guests over too.” She looked really beautiful to Abel when she smiled.
“I got this brother who goes to UCLA,” Abel continued, “and everything he does is right. My parents just worship him. Anyway, my friend, Ernesto, he and I went to the car show Saturday. We got to talking. Ernie, he said you gotta find something you’re passionate about, and just go for it. Well, for me it’s cooking. And what Ernie said, it gave me the courage to dream up that dinner. What made it really cool was that I invited Ernie and his whole family—six of them. So I cooked dinner for ten people Sunday. I’m telling you, Claudia, usually I feel like about two cents. But after that dinner coming off so good, I felt like a million bucks.”
Claudia was looking intently at Abel. “That’s beautiful, Abel. That’s really beautiful. Your friend is right. You gotta find that one thing that you really care about and go for it. It’s an awful thing to spend your whole life doing a job you hate. And the only reason is ’cause that’s the first place that hired you when you finished school.”
“Yeah,” Abel agreed, wondering whether Claudia was really excited about anything.
“My dad’s a salesman,” Claudia went on. “He sells insurance. Mostly life insurance. He earns a good living, but he hates the job. He always told me the last thing he ever wanted to do was be a salesman. It’s almost like a prison sentence. He was sentenced to be a salesman until he can retire and get his Social Security check or something.”
The girl took another spoonful of her strawberry yogurt. “Mmm, good! Anyway, when Dad was young, he surfed. He loved the ocean. He had this idea he might open up a surfboard shop on the beach. Then he met Mom, and they fell in love. Mom’s dad called him ‘a surfer bum.’ Dad quickly got a nice respectable job selling insurance, and that was that. It’s not that Dad isn’t happy. I mean, he’s happy. He and Mom love each other a lot. And when he does retire, they’re gonna get a little beach cottage. So Dad can sorta enjoy that life again. But still . . . I mean, Abel, your friend, he’s got it right. You need to do a job that makes you happy. You shouldn’t just settle for the paycheck.”
It was getting late when Claudia and Abel started down Tremayne for the walk home.
Abel told Claudia about his dad. “My dad wanted to build brick walls and little ponds and waterfalls, but it didn’t happen that way. He got hired by Mom’s cousin, and now mostly he hauls sand and gravel around.”
Claudia nodded. Abel wondered again whether she had a secret dream. He wished he knew how to ask her without seeming to be nosy and prying into her life. They hadn’t known each other very long.
“Abel, do you like English?” Claudia asked.
“No, not really,” Abel confessed. “I don’t understand a lot of the stories we’re reading in English. They’re kind of boring too. The teacher keeps wanting to know what the story means, and to me it doesn’t mean anything. Like we’re reading this thing by Hemingway, ‘A Canary for One,’ and it makes no sense to me. A lot of the stories in English make no sense to me. I guess I’m not very good in English. I’m lucky if I get a B minus. Usually I get a C plus. Now Ernie, he’s a pretty good student. I’m gonna ask him what that canary story means. He’ll know.”
“I love poetry that was written a long time ago,” Claudia responded. “And essays too. I like the stuff Henry David Thoreau wrote. When we were talking about our dads, I thought about something Thoreau wrote, and it kinda fit. He wrote, ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Isn’t that true? But it’s sad too.”
They were getting close to their homes. If he was going to ask Claudia about her secret passion for a career, he figured now was the time. “Claudia,” he began, “you ever think about what you want to do when you finish school? I mean, you’ll probably want to go to college, but then. . . .. . ?”
Claudia giggled. “Mine is stranger than you wanting to be a chef, Abel.”
“Yeah?” Abel smiled. “Tell me.”
“We do musical comedies at our school,” Claudia explained, a bright glow in her beautiful brown eyes. “The boys come to play the male parts. I’ve been in several of the musicals. I got a nice voice. I’m sort of a soprano. I’d like to take music and maybe sing, Abel.”
When they got to Claudia’s house, she stopped before going inside. “Abel,” she said, taking his big hands in her small ones. “Let’s promise each other that we’ll never lead lives of quiet desperation.”