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| | Luis* | |
“Here,” hissed Samuel. “Put this in your bag.”
Keeping a sharp eye on the cashier, Samuel, 13, furtively shoved a bag of chips at his best friend Luis and began slipping a bottle of soda into his own pouch. Outside the tiny convenience store, the sun glared down on the streets of Chihuahua, Mexico. Staring at the package in his hand, Luis felt as though he were standing in that sun. He felt sweat prickling on his forehead.
“You don’t want the other guys to think you’re chickening out, do you?”
Luis glanced hastily outside where the other boys in the gang were waiting.
Why am I such a wimp? he thought.
A soldier isn’t a wimp. A policeman isn’t a wimp, he said, ticking off two of the jobs he most wanted to pursue when he grew up.
A policeman wouldn’t be stealing from a convenience store, Luis heard his older sister retorting in his head. Luis’ stomach sunk as he imagined the look on Ana Laura’s face when he returned home. Somehow she always knew when he’d been making mischief.
“Hurry up,” Samuel urged.
Luis slipped the chips into his bag. “Let’s go.”
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Knowing how to build things with his own hands certainly would be useful if he ever became a soldier and was stranded somewhere while on a secret mission. |
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In the back of the classroom, Luis was complaining to a friend. Why did he have to get stuck in woodworking? The extracurricular he’d really wanted was computers.
“Luis, would you care to share with
the rest of the class?” his teacher asked.
“Yeah,” said Luis. “I think woodworking stinks.”
But by the end of the class, Luis had to admit he was interested. Knowing how to build things with his own hands certainly
would be useful if he ever became a soldier and was stranded somewhere while on a secret mission…
Later that day, Luis sat in the bedroom he shared with Ana Laura, 16, and his younger brother, Jorge, staring out the window to the dusty yard. The roosters and the goat seemed to share Luis’ restlessness. Later on he was supposed to hang out with the guys, and Luis wondered if he’d be asked to steal again. It had been easier after the first couple of times, almost like a game. Still, it didn’t seem quite right to take stuff from other people. Especially when in his own
colonia, or neighborhood, about half of the families lived on only about $11 a day.
“Look!”
Ana Laura burst into the room waving a handout. “The new center the Sisters built is offering a high school equivalency program!”
Photos courtesy of Sister Sharon Brannen.
* Based on the story of Luis Angel Ramirez Gonzalez. Research for this story conducted with the assistance of Sister Sharon Brannen.
