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I went
to Mi Familia after school to help out
because one of the busboys had called in sick. When
I got there Marita came running up to me all
excited like. She told me that Dee had told off
Juan in front of a whole bunch of kids. Marita also
said she thought that Dee was very cool to stand up
for her rights as a woman.
"I
pray to God that I am never in such a situation,
but if it were to happen, I pray also that I could
stand up to the male oppressor like Dee has
done."
Marita
never admits that she's wrong, at least not to me
in the 16 years that I've known her. But that's
just what she did. She said had been a jerk to tell
me to stay away from Dee. "Dee is way cooler than
Flora. And even if she is black, if you love her,
Miguel, then it's all right with me! I would be
proud to have her in our family."
I
didn't know what to say. I think it's cool that Dee
stood up for herself. I'm a little sorry that I
wasn't there to see it, but maybe it's just as
well. If I had been there it would have been really
hard for me not to get into a macho thing with
Juan. I'm still so pissed at him when I think about
what he did to Dee. But Dee is right. It had
nothing to do with me and now that she told him
off, I'm glad that she had the chance to take care
of it all by herself. I'm also glad she had an
audience. That's very cool!
I went
into the kitchen to get the glasses and silverware
so I could start setting the tables. Rosa was
peeling potatoes and singing. Over her head, on the
bulletin board where they keep the work schedules,
the calendar and the list of supplies for the next
shopping trip, was something I'd never seen before.
It was a watercolor painting of a red rose in a
beautiful blue vase. The petals looked like velvet
and you could see where the light reflected off of
the vase. The whole thing looked amazingly real but
at the same time, more like a flower you remember
in the dream. Something that is still fuzzy around
the edges and fading fast. When I looked at Rosa
she was watching me and smiling.
"You
are wondering what this is?"
"Yes."
"It is
a gift to me from my friend Dee."
"Dee
gave this to you?"
"Si."
"Yeah.
I like it a lot."
"So do I."
Then
she winked at me and went back to peeling her
potatoes.
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