Arizona Allspice (55 page)

I walk out in front of the goal and line up four balls on the six-yard line.  I step back from the line and see eight balls. I groan. My double vision goes in and out. After a few seconds my vision goes back to “normal”. I also know not to always trust my eyes to measure distances now. I walk up to the first ball and count my steps as I walk backward to help me get a feel for the distance. Then I jog forward and start
wailin
’ on them. Number one goes in, two goes in, three bounces off the goal post, but number four knew better and did what it was told. The last ball rolls back out of the goal towards me. I kick it up over my head and turn my back to the goal. While it’s in the air, I spring myself up off the ground. I twist my body
midair,
swing my right leg up and BAM! The ball slams into the goal behind me.

 
I still got it!
It was the move Elaine referred to as my “awesome overhead kick.” It would’ve been cool to have her here to see it.

I get home sweaty, sore and content. After I take a shower, I go into the kitchen where Mom is juicing oranges for tomorrow’s breakfast. I pick up one of the smaller oranges and slice it in half. I hand one half to Mom to squeeze and cut the other half into wedges and start eating.  

“Look at that soccer glow you have,” she teases. I smile as I suck on the orange. “Elaine took you to most of your therapy sessions. She would have been proud to watch you out on the field. I wish she could have seen you.”

I chew and swallow the sweet and sour orange pulp.
“Me, too.”
I bite into another orange wedge. Mom looks at me surprised. A grin grows on her face. She’s been trying to get me to mention Elaine for days, but I wouldn’t say a word. I’m sure I’ve just made her day.

“Manny is coming home soon.
You excited?”

“Yeah.
Kind of.”

“Kind of?”

I explain the problem of Manny pressuring me to talk to Elaine again, sparing her the details about the verbal contract Manny and I have concerning Elaine. Mom doesn’t know about that. “It’s like I’ve been knocking day after day on a door that will never open. I have this compulsion to keep knocking and knocking until I’m flat out banging my head against the door and she won’t budge. Even a fool like me has his limits and I wish Manny would back off.”

“You’re not a fool, baby. Obviously there is something between you and Elaine. She didn’t pretend to be your girlfriend for that long just for my sake. I’ve seen the way you two interact. I’ve also seen the way she is missing you right now. Honey, sometimes when the door closes in your face you’ve got to climb through the window. I wish I could tell you where that window is, but I know you’ll find it soon. It might take a little more time. She doesn’t see the good side of things as clearly as you do, so it’s hard for her to believe her dreams could come true.” Mom stands on her tip toes and kisses my cheek. I think about her advice and realize that I need to tell Elaine about the dream I had in which her mother spoke to me.
My dream.
Our dream.

******

“That Roberts girl was helping Raul steal my son
Teo
from me. My husband tried to stop them but Joey Kinsley put a gun to his head and forced him to allow the kidnapping.”

The bartender blinked at Mrs. Campos.
“
Mhmm
.
That’ll be four dollars.”

She scowled at him and pulled a five dollar bill from the pocket of her jean shorts. The bartender took the money and gave her the beer. She could hear people whispering about her at their tables. She gulped the beer and a little of the sour liquid dripped down the side of her mouth. She wiped it dry with the top of her shirt, smearing the Monroe mole she’d drawn above her lip with a black eyebrow pencil. She ran a hand through her short wavy hair. Nervously, she dangled her legs back and forth as she sat on the tall barstool. She kept hearing whispers across the room and eyes burning into her back.

“Hey, how’d you get that black eye?” A man’s voice shouted at her. The bar went silent.

“Joey Kinsley,” Mrs. Campos said before taking a swig of her beer.

A woman in the corner of the bar cackled. Other male voices joined in laughing. “That boy ain’t
touch
you!” The male voice yelled.

She swiveled around on her stool to face the drunken patrons.  “It’s his fault my husband left!
Him
and that girl took my baby!”

“Then call the cops, you crazy bitch!” Denise’s father answered from his table.

“My husband will get arrested if I do. I waited ten years for us to be a family again. He won’t come home unless I get my kids so we can all be together!”

“Shut
up.
” The woman sitting beside Mr. Rubio said loudly.

Mrs. Campos shrieked as she hurled the beer bottle through the air at the lady. Everyone ducked as the bottle bulleted over their heads and shattered against the wall.

“Throw something else,
puta
!” The woman threatened Raul’s mother. The bar exploded into a shouting match. The bartender switched into his role as bouncer and grabbed both Mrs. Campos’ arms and shoved her towards the door. She let out a guttural scream that confirmed the bar patrons’ insults that she was not completely sane. Within the grip of the bartender’s strong arms she writhed and snarled like a lioness caught in a poacher’s net.

“I will fight for my family! I will do whatever it takes! Get off of me!
Aaaahh
!”
 

******

The party room at
Bartolo’s
Pizza Parlor is packed with people buzzing with excitement over Manny’s return. It’s his ‘Welcome Home’ surprise party and he will walk through the door any minute. Frank is picking him up from the Pima County Jail. I’d expected they’d be back by now, but maybe they got slowed down by paper work. I’m fidgeting with my plastic cup of soda pop. I’m so happy my friend can come home and his nightmare can end. On the other hand, I’m nervous about how he’ll feel when I tell him I’m moving to Florida. Mom wants to move in with Frank into his condo in Daytona. It sounds like a beautiful place to start over. I could get my own apartment by the beach. I have enough money saved up for a deposit. Maybe there I’ll find a passion other than soccer, a passion that I can actually make a living from. Working at the
PiCo
factory is not my passion. It’s a job, not a career and I’d been lying to myself, saying I enjoyed working there, because I didn’t think there was anything else I was capable of.

Of course I’m not going to leave for Florida before I finish my duties as captain
of team
Chupasangres
.
I want to win the finals more now than I ever did before the accident. I used to let my personal life affect my performance on the field. I won’t let that happen again. I’ll also say one last thing to Elaine. I’ll tell her about my dream and the message her mother gave me. I’m not keeping my hopes up. I’m pretty much done with that.

The amount of people crowded in this party room is grating on my nerves. At first Frank and Elaine planned a small gathering at their home, just a cookout with a dozen friends or so. Mr. Jeremy, however, convinced Frank to have a big party at the pizza parlor. With Mr. Jeremy footing the bill and an opportunity to treat the whole neighborhood to a good time, Frank couldn’t say no. I wish Frank had declined Mr. Jeremy’s nice but business motivated gesture. All the chatter is making me more nervous. As I take a drink of my soda I notice Elaine for the first time on the other side of the room. I start choking. As I cough the soda out of my air way, I watch a goddess move about the crowd.

Her hair is down; dark, shiny and smooth. I wish I could run my fingers through it. No glasses. Her eyes are even more stunning now with smoky eye shadow. She’s wearing a candy red halter vest that accentuates her chest and her waist. Her black skirt stops above the knee, letting my eyes travel down luscious long legs. She’s stepping around in expensive looking black leather boots that have skinny heels and a seductive arch. She turns and her entire back is out, except for the ribbons that tie the two sides of the vest together. The ribbon trails down her spine and stops right above the glorious curve of her behind. I start praying to God to help me control my primal urge to grab her, find us a bedroom, lock the door and not come out for a few days.

 Tia, who was standing beside me, gently elbows me. “She ain’t wearing that outfit for Manny,” she whispers and gives me a wink and a smile.

Whispers of “He’s here!” and “Quiet!” spread across the room.
I want to get up to the front so I can be one of the first people to greet Manny. I say, “Excuse me” to a lady in front of me. She turns to the people in front of her and says, “Everyone, move. Joey’s coming through.” The message gets passed along and suddenly the sea of bodies parts. I walk through the cleared path up to the front. The front row has all of Manny’s friends lined up, but Elaine is standing a foot in front of them, by herself. I guess everyone had pushed her up to the front so she could be the very first to see her brother. Out of nowhere,
Morghan
grabs my arm and drags me to stand beside Elaine. “Your Manny’s best friend, aren’t you?” She smiles and steps back into the crowd.  Elaine tries to keep her eyes on the door, but eventually she can’t ignore my presence any longer. She glances at me. When I give her a genuine smile, she seems shocked. She quickly returns her gaze to the door. The entire room is quiet. I can hear my heart racing in my chest. I’m not sure what I’m nervous about, Manny or Elaine? The door opens. Frank walks in grinning and right behind him, Manny.

“SURPRISE!”
We all shout.

Manny jumps and clutches his heart. “Are you guys trying to kill me?”

Everyone laughs and swarms around him to watch the reunion of him and his family and friends. Elaine throws her arms around his neck and they both just hold each other and quietly cry. “
Awww
,” the crowd sighs. He whispers something in her ear and she smiles and whispers something back. Next, Manny turns to me. We hug as men do, with powerful squeezes and hard pats on the back. We step away from each other and I playfully rub my hand across the top of his head. He has a fresh haircut, the reason it took a while for him to arrive. I’m speechless the whole time. “Me and you are gonna make it happen, Superman,” he says. I nod, laughing, and then slowly step away so others get their turn with him.

“Where’s your mother?” Frank gives my shoulder a squeeze.

“She’s being helpful back at the buffet tables.”

He nods and leaves to find her. I look to my right and realize Elaine is standing near me, happily watching her brother reunite with his friends. Again, I start fidgeting.

******

When I arrived at B’s Pizza Parlor I was shocked at how nice everyone was to me. Free food does that to people. I received a lot of compliments on my outfit. Auntie Amelia is the one that helped me put the outfit together. She said it would help my cause. I almost cried when one of my neighbors said “I’m sorry for what we put you through five years ago.” It was the first apology I’ve ever gotten for what happened to me and my family after the rent increase. All I ever wanted was to know that someone had some remorse over what they had done. My friends escorted me up to the front of the crowd so that I could be the first to see my brother. They also shoved Joey up to the front.

When someone looks at you with so much pain in their eyes and says “I don’t ever want to see you again,” you believe them. So when he smiled at me I was stunned. Manny walked in before I could process what
Joey’s smile
meant. It was so good to see Manny standing in front of me. He was safe now. He was home. A piece of my world was returned to me.
Thank you, God.
“You should see the way he’s looking at you right now,” Manny whispered to me as we hugged. I blushed. “I missed you, too, Manny,” I laughed. Reluctantly, I pull away. I stand and watch him and Joey. I watch as Jesse and Claude, Manny’s other good friends, welcome him home. I smile to myself and wipe at my tears.