Читать книгу River of Love - Aimée Medina Carr - Страница 11

Blaze’s barbershop went belly-up within the year. He drank up the profits while the borracho–boozehound friends scared off the paying customers. A call from the county jail seized my mother with panic or a cruel disappearing act sent her into a tailspin of worry.

Thankfully, she got a job at Head Start. Aunt Lucy came by with the life-changing news.

“Alma, sit down.” She readies the younger sister for opportunity knocking.

“What is it, Sis? Hope it’s good news, I sure need some.”

“I met with the board of the Head Start Program and starting Monday you are their new teacher’s aide with Gus enrolled in your class.” It’s only part-time and low paying but a foot in the door and she’d blast it wide open.

“What a blessed day, thank you, Lucy.” Before my mother got her job, we’d been on welfare, food stamps, and received commodities. Commodity day was a day of celebration. We picked up the box of government-issued food: blocks of orange processed cheese and Spam-like meat, a large can of honey and peanut butter, a ten-pound bag of rice, and boxes of powdered milk, and oatmeal.

She rounded out meals by purchasing a hundred-pound bag of frijoles–beans, and a hundred-pound bags of papas–potatoes, and flour. She kept a freezer full of roasted Pueblo and New Mexico green chili, bought by the bushel. Solid staples in poor Chicano families’ pantries and the Holy Trinity of Mexican cuisine: hot green chili, pinto beans, and tortillas. Blaze and his two brothers hunted and provided deer and elk meat.

Mom’s efficient with every cent and paid her bills on time. She taught her children frugality and responsibility in living within your means and to never owe anything to anyone. Her motto, “If you can’t pay for it in cash, you don’t need it.”

Thanks to Aunt Lucy’s string pulling we all had after school part-time CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) jobs, a government student work program for low-income families.

A bank held a contest to win the installation and yearlong cost of a residential telephone. My sister Rae opened a savings account and filled out the entry slip. She mentioned it to Mom and forgot about it, till they sent a letter that she’d won.

Mom ran through the house shouting and genuflecting, “Thank you, Mother Mary, Santo Niño, and Holy Family for performing this small but powerful miracle!” It opened new doors for us, and we never go without a phone again. It became the main source of my mother’s solace, entertainment, and primary social outlet. She had the misfortune of Loving a man who cared only for his next drink, but her children, each in their small way made efforts to compensate.