Читать книгу BORDER JUSTICE - Aubrey Smith - Страница 10

At school, three boys asked her for a date for the next Saturday night. It seemed that every boy in school was looking at her and smiling as if they knew. How could everyone know, she wondered? Surely Randy wouldn’t tell everyone in school. No way, she reassured herself. At lunch break, Connie Gonzales came and sat down beside her in the cafeteria. She had no more than opened the small milk container when she said, “Well, you did it, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“Randy’s telling everyone in school you and him did it.”

“Oh my God, how could he? Connie, he’s a liar, a liar. I hate him.”

“I told everyone he was lying, but it’s all over school.”

Sierra saw Randy sitting at a table near the wall laughing with several other boys. She got up and walked toward his table. When he looked up and saw her coming, his grin seemed to fade a little. She walked around to where he was sitting and, when he started to get up, she punched him as hard as she could right in the eye.

He was so taken aback by the fact that she had hit him, and by the power she wielded, he tripped over his own chair and did a backward somersault under the table. The cafeteria roared with laughter. Mr. Ramirez grabbed her elbow just as she kicked Randy in what he had been so proud of last Friday night. Randy rolled on the floor in pain as Mr. Ramirez pulled her off, forced her out the cafeteria doors and led her to the Principal’s office.

“Sierra what’s gotten into you? My word, young lady, hitting a boy in the face.” Mr. Ramirez was the school principal. Most of the time Sierra liked him. He’s sort of sexy, she had told Connie one day last week. Now he was red-faced and angry. “You leave me no choice but to suspend you for three days. Since this is the last day of school this year, you go home now. I’ll count this as one day. Then you’ll take the first two days off when school starts in August. I’m calling your mother to pick you up.” Sierra didn’t say anything. She stared at the floor in the Principal’s office.

“Go on Sierra. Wait for your mother in Mrs. Thompson’s office. I’ll see you next year on the third day of school, understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

The waiting in Mrs. Thompson’s office seemed to last two hours, but Sierra knew it was only about ten minutes before her mother came. She signed the withdrawal slip and motioned for Sierra to come. Neither said a word until they were in the car.

“Why Sierra? You’ve never done anything like this before. You’ve always been a good girl. Then you disobey your father and come home at daylight. You’ve pouted and shirked your responsibilities for two days. And now you’ve been expelled from school for fighting. Que lio! Cada uno tiene su modo de matar pulgas. You’ve gone too far this time. Your father is going to hit the roof when he finds out. De los dos males, cual es el menor, tell me or tell your father?

Sierra was quiet for a while. When her mother did not start the car, she decided she had to talk with someone, but she knew it could not be her mother. How could she tell her mother that she had gotten drunk and let Randy have sex with her?

No way. I’ll talk with Sandra, she thought. No, Sandra would tell Mama as soon as I left the room. I’ll talk with Connie tomorrow or whenever I can get out of the house again. She said nothing and looked down at the floor mats. Finally, her mother started the car and drove them home.

Neither mother nor daughter said a word during the short ride home. When her mother stopped the car in front of their house, she looked deep into Sierra’s eyes. “I have a pretty good idea what’s going on Sierra,” she said. “I’m not stupid. Don’t forget, I was young once myself. The way I have this figured is that you got carried away with the dance and had too much to drink. I think you let that boy go too far and he’s told everyone at school. Am I right so far?”

Sierra did not answer. Staring at the floor mat, she began counting the checkered squares printed around the edge of the carpet. She felt tears run down her face and drip onto her jeans. She couldn’t ever remember being so ashamed, not even last Friday night. Now here she was getting sent home from school for fighting.

She had never thought of her mother and dad having sex. She knew they did, but she never thought about it. Now to have her mother guess what had happened between her and Randy and to discuss it sitting in a car parked in front of their home was more than she could bear. She remained silent, her eyes opened wide, gazing intently at the floor in the car. There were seventy-two squares around the floor mat.

They sat for a while longer, her mother waiting for her to say something. When she saw that Sierra was not going to answer her, Anna got out of the car and went into the house. Sierra continued to sit in the car. Sweat and tears ran in pools and soaked her blue and white Magic Valley team shirt. She thought about suicide, but quickly decided that was not the answer. Besides, she was afraid to die.

She’d thought about death. She remembered asking the priest about it. He had told her not to worry. He said that it was all part of God’s plan. She had told him it seemed to her that dying was a lot like not being born and wondered if they were the same. The priest sternly told her that there was no spirit life before birth, but that God’s children would live with God in Heaven forever.

Somehow she could not comprehend the difference. At times she believed in reincarnation of the spirit. At one time she was sure she had been a nun in some far away place many years ago. When she had told Sandra what she thought, Sandra had laughed at her and then told her mother.

Finally, Sierra got out of the car and went into the house. Her mother was already steaming tamales for the official victory rally. For the second day in a row there would be food, speeches and dancing at the celebration that was being held again tonight in the West End Park. Papa and Sandra were at work. Rosemary was still at school. She helped her mother prepare the food in silence and she felt a little sick. An uneasy feeling began at the top of her head and ran down her spine, then deep into her body, a very uneasy feeling that something was very wrong.