No Second Chances (6 page)

L
ater that evening Santiago parked his truck down the block from his mother's whitewashed Spanish-style condo. He glanced at his watch. It was five after six. There were two cars parked in his mother's driveway. The red Dodge Ram truck he recognized as Assistant Principal Castillo's. The silver Corolla belonged to his mother. Santiago smirked. He could handle whatever parental intervention those two cooked up to get him back into school. As he headed toward the town house, he thought about what he would say to them. The business
was already taking off. And after his upcoming wrestling match, customers would be pulling their hair out to get at his leafy mojo energy drink.

Santiago was so wrapped up in his fantasies he didn't hear a voice calling out to him. Suddenly, sharp fingernails clawed at his forearm. He winced and twisted in surprise.

“What the —?” Santiago cried, shaking his arm free.

Maria Elena stared back at him with a nasty frown on her face. She had changed into a black-and-white ruffled dress that accentuated her curvy body and tanned skin. “Didn't you hear me calling after you?” she snapped, shaking her silky brown hair.

“I'm sorry. I guess I was daydreaming,” he said, giving her an innocent smile.

“Daydreaming about who?” she demanded.

Santiago did a double take. What had happened to the sweet, innocent Maria Elena that he'd known?

Maria Elena punched him on the chest. “Who is she? It better not be that skank Nina or Yessica,” she threatened, lifting up her fist again.

“Whoa!” Santiago motioned for her to calm down. “You need to chill out,
mamacita
. I was just thinking about my new smoothie stand business.”

Maria Elena sighed with relief, her angry scowl shifting into a flirtatious smile. “Oh, baby.” She kissed him on the lips. “I'm so happy to hear that. You don't know how worried I was.” She continued kissing him as she explained. “There was this crazy tarot card reader in Monterrey. She said you were running around with other women. I told her she was crazy and that you loved only me.”

Santiago's eyes widened in surprise. He had never said that he loved her or that she was his only lady. They'd only hung out a couple of times before her father sent her to Mexico. Their time together was so brief, he hadn't
thought very much about it. Maria Elena was hot and Santiago did want to hang out with her. But he also wanted to hang out with other girls — especially other girls who didn't have El Payaso for a father. He held Maria Elena's wrists and pulled out of kissing range. She knitted her penciled-in eyebrows in confusion.

“Hey, mama,” Santiago said in a sweet voice. “There's no reason to get all worked up. Listen, I think you're great, but this jealousy stuff is not my style. I'm kind of a loner, you know, like a wolf.”

“What are you talking about?”

He sighed. “What I'm trying to say is that I'm not really a relationship type of guy. If that's what you want, cool. I hope you find that. But me, I need to be free.” He began to flap his arms like a bird. “You feel me?” Santiago waited for his words to sink in. She'd get over it, he told himself.

Maria Elena gasped, raising her manicured nails to her mouth. “Oh, my god. The
fortune-teller was right.” Maria Elena blinked hard. Then her eyes rolled back and she began to convulse like she was possessed by some demon. Santiago turned to scream for help, but just as suddenly Maria Elena stopped. Her eyes were aflame as she looked up at the sky.

“Are you okay?” Santiago asked with real concern.

Maria Elena opened her mouth to reply. “Here I was about to take you out for a night in Reynosa. Stupid me.” The sound of her voice was menacing and sent shivers up his spine.

“Whoa, you scaring me, mama. You sure you're all right?” Santiago asked cautiously, taking a step toward her. Maria Elena stared past him, expressionless. She looked better, he thought. “Well, I just wanted to explain things to you. You know? So no one gets hurt.” He moved in to hug her, but she blocked him with her hand and pushed him away. “Hey, no need to get physical,” he protested.

“You think that's physical?” she asked in a stiff voice. “You don't even know the half of it. You played with the wrong girl.”

“I didn't play you,” Santiago said, throwing his arms up in the air. “We were just hanging out.”

“Just hanging out!” Maria Elena screeched. The look on her face scared Santiago. It was time to end the conversation and get away from Maria Elena, he thought. El Payaso had warned him to stay away from her and he planned to do just that.

“I'm sorry,” Santiago said, trying to sound calm. Maria Elena continued to cry: “Just hanging out!” over and over like a car alarm. He didn't know how to make her stop so he turned and walked swiftly to his mother's house. Santiago punched in the gate code, thankful for the security system, and rushed into the housing complex.

Pissing off a trafficker's daughter can't be good
, he thought, pulling out his house keys. He
wondered what Maria Elena, or worse, her father, would do next. At least he would be doing exactly what El Payaso wanted — he'd definitely be staying away from Maria Elena for good now.

“I'm home!” Santiago shouted, intentionally slamming the door behind him. He knew that Castillo and his mom had some thing, but he really did not want to walk into something that would take years of therapy to get over.

“We're in the kitchen,” his mother called out in a singsong voice. Santiago hung his head as he walked down the creamy white hallway decorated with numerous portraits of him as a baby. His mom had framed every picture he had ever drawn and mounted them on all the walls of their home like trophies. It was pretty embarrassing, so he rarely had people over — especially girls. Animated voices were coming from the next room. Santiago paused at the entrance to crack his knuckles, then he walked in.

His mother was holding a liter of soda in one hand and smiling brightly at her guests. Her loose black hair shone like silk and Santiago thought she looked really classy in her fitted business suit. Castillo raised his glass for her to fill. His face was blotchy red and he was wiping his eyes like he'd been laughing a lot.

“What's going on?” Santiago asked, a tad annoyed at the situation. Weren't they supposed to be serious? Weren't they supposed to be trying to convince him to get his diploma?

The other guest finally turned and faced Santiago. The man looked familiar. He had short salt-and-pepper hair, a thin build, and a big toothy smile … that smile. Santiago glanced from his mom to Castillo, and back again in disbelief.

The man's grin widened. “What's up, Mini Me? You miss me?”

Santiago's insides twisted up into a tight ball. He felt his pulse begin to race. Santiago stared at the man who had brought so much
pain and anguish to his family. What was his father doing here?

“What's the matter, Mini Me?
La Llorona
got your tongue?”

His uncles liked to tease him about how, when Santiago was a little boy, he swore his dad was the strongest, fastest, smartest man in the known universe. He'd seen the home videos where his four-year-old self imitated his dad's style of dress, his walk, and he even tried to talk like him for the camera. His dad thought it was cute and started calling him Mini Me. Now, hearing his old nickname made Santiago want to hurl.

“I like the big belt buckle.” His dad gestured to Santiago's trademark belt around his waist. “You rockin' the cowboy look now? I've been out of the loop for so long. I was hoping the eighties would be back in style so I wouldn't have to go shopping.” He laughed at his joke as if it was the funniest thing ever.

“What's
he
doing here?” Santiago spat, ignoring his dad and talking only to his mom.

Consuelo put down the soda bottle and placed her hands on her hips. “He's your father and he wants to see you.”

“Well, I don't want to see him,” Santiago cried, throwing his arms into the air. “I'm out of here.” He spun around and retraced his steps back toward the front door.

“Santiago,” his mother called out, coming after him. She caught up to him in the hallway. “Honey, please,” she said in a soft voice. Santiago couldn't raise his eyes to hers. “He's been gone awhile and he wants to talk. Can't you just give him a chance?”

“Give
him
a chance?” Santiago asked heatedly. “Mom, that man is not my father. He was never there for us. I don't know what he told you, but I'm sure it's all lies. And I can never forgive him for hitting you.” His mother flinched.

“That was a long time ago,” Consuelo said gravely. She looked up at Santiago with a slow-burning strength in her eyes. “And I have forgiven him.” Santiago jumped back against the wall. Consuelo leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Your father doesn't always make the right decisions, but he's not a bad person.” She paused. “Do you know why your dad went away?”

“Because he's a no-good, lying drug dealer,” Santiago spat.

“College.”

Santiago shook his head in disbelief. “Mom, please, don't —”

“No,” she interrupted. “You never wanted to hear before, but I want you to know that your father did what he did because we didn't have any money and I wanted to go to college. At the time, I didn't know what he was doing. He told me he found a good job and I believed him because I wanted to believe him. But then he got busted trying to sell to an undercover
cop. I know it doesn't excuse what he did or how he treated me, but I wanted you to know the truth.” Santiago shook his head in confusion. “I've put that part of my life behind me. I've forgiven him for lying and I've moved on.” She reached out for his hand and held it firmly as she held his gaze. “You don't have to worry about me, son. I will never let anyone hurt me like that again. Do you understand? Eddy knows it's over between us. He knows what he did was wrong. The past is buried, but not forgotten. And I think that if you just gave him a chance —”

Santiago could see his mom's lips moving, but he couldn't listen anymore to her words. This information was blowing his mind. Anger flared through his bones but then, an over-whelming sense of sadness overtook him. “Why didn't you tell me?” He could hear his voice threatening to crack. “I thought we were close, you and me.”

His mother smiled, her eyes tearing up. She gave him a heartfelt embrace. Consuelo sighed
into his shoulder and he breathed in her floral shampoo. “I tried many times, but every time I brought him up you pushed me away.” She pulled back to see his reaction. “When I learned that your father was getting out, I didn't know how to tell you. That's why I went to your school….”

Suddenly, Santiago noticed how quiet the house had gotten. Where were Castillo and his father? The idea of those two listening in on this intimate moment made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Mom, can we talk more about this later?” he asked, listening for any sound from the other room.

“Sure, honey,” Consuelo said, giving him another squeeze. “We can talk after dinner.”

“Aww, Mom,” Santiago complained. “Do I really have to?”

“Don't be like that. The enchiladas are probably already cold. C'mon.” She gestured, taking a few steps forward.

 

Dinner was unusually quiet. It was obvious that the guests had eavesdropped on his conversation. His mom tried to be polite and share the highlights of Santiago's life thus far. However, in the past ten years there were few proud moments to gush over. Castillo yapped on and on about the Mariachi Club. He said Santiago had a natural gift with the accordion and talked about how much the group missed him. Eddy acted impressed and excited by the news. He tried to crack some jokes, but they fell flat.

“Hey, son,” Eddy said, when his mom and Castillo started clearing plates. “I've got something for you.”

His father opened his shirt to reveal a hand-sized tattoo picture of five-year-old Santiago on his left breast. Santiago didn't know how to feel about it. Usually guys tattooed animals or their girlfriends' names on their bodies. Seeing
his face reflected back to him was weird. His mother came over for a better view.

“Oh, my,” she said, glancing at Santiago's reaction and then back to the tattoo. “That looks just like him. Look, John.” She gestured for Castillo to come over. Then she asked, “Did it hurt?”

Eddy sniffed as he buttoned up his shirt. “A little. No biggie. I wanted to do something for my boy,” he said to Consuelo, but not taking his eyes off Santiago.

“Thanks, I guess.” Santiago shrugged, looking down. “Can I be excused now? I have a lot of work to do tomorrow at Grandpa Frank's.”

His mother looked disappointed. “I was hoping you'd stay awhile. I made your bed,” she added in a light voice. “We can talk about your plans….”

“I really should get back,” Santiago said, getting up. “We're getting bees delivered tomorrow. Grandpa Frank says honey might make
our smoothies a little easier to swallow.” He grinned.

His father slapped him on the back forcefully. “That's my boy. Entrepreneur, just like his old man.”

Santiago jerked away from him. “I'm nothing like you.”

“I'm sorry,” Eddy said, shame washing over his face. “I didn't mean —” He swallowed the rest of his statement.

“I'm out of here. Thanks for dinner. I'll see you, Castillo,” Santiago said, ignoring his father on purpose. He hurried out the door and down a flight of stairs, pausing slightly at the front gate to make sure Maria Elena was not waiting for him in the bushes. The coast was clear, but his truck wasn't. Jagged letters were keyed across the driver's door and the hood of the truck. The words “liar” and “cheater” stared back at him. Santiago stomped the ground and cursed in frustration.