“However, now that I think of it, it might attract too much unnecessary attention if you return to your condo, John.”
“What do you suggest?”
“I have that house for rent in Indio. It’s furnished. Take her up there for two weeks. No one in that neighborhood will notice or care. Half the people living up there were probably brought here last night by a coyote. I will expect that she’ll be quite different when you return,” she added in a threatening tone.
“Oh, she’ll be like brand new,” he said, looking at me and smiling. “She’ll be a Mexican American and not just a Mexican.”
“Good,” my aunt said. “Do you want Mrs. Rosario to go along to help you set up?”
“Oh, no,” he said. “We don’t want her to have anyone near her who can speak Spanish. That’s the point. She will need to remember what I teach her to survive.”
“You’ll have to keep her under lock and key up there, then, John.”
“No problem,” he said, and smiled at me again. “It’ll be like My Fair Lady. I’ll be Professor Higgins.”
“Yes, only don’t expect her to turn into Audrey Hepburn, John.”
“She’ll come damn close to it,” he vowed.
My aunt laughed.
What was going on? They were speaking too quickly, and the words I caught and understood just confused me.
Mi tía Isabela turned to Señora Rosario and began explaining everything. She told her to explain it all to me in Spanish. For a moment, Señora Rosario looked as if she was going to disobey her. My aunt widened her eyes, and Señora Rosario turned to me.
“Señora Dallas and Señor Baker think it’s going to take you too long to learn English here while you spend so much time helping with housework. Señora Dallas wants you to learn faster and get to school.”
I nodded. That didn’t sound so bad. No more housework.
“Señora Dallas and Señor Baker think it will be better for you if you are somewhere where no one speaks Spanish so you will have to learn English quickly.”
“Where?” I asked. “Dónde?” Were they talking about me living in his house again?
“Señora Dallas owns many properties. She has a house in Indio that you and Señor Baker will use. It’s not that far away from here.”
“Only me and Señor Baker?” I turned to him. He was smiling at me gleefully. I felt my heart begin to thump. I shook my head.
“Don’t you dare shake your head!” mi tía Isabela screamed at me. “Tell her if she doesn’t do what I tell her to do, I will contact her grandmother and let her grandmother know how disrespectful and disobedient she is.” She smiled, folded her arms under her breasts, and stood straighter. “Tell her I will stop sending her grandmother money to help her survive.”
Señora Rosario told me, and I looked up with surprise. Aunt Isabela was sending money to my grandmother?
“That’s right, Delia. I am sending her money now,” she told me in English. “She’s an old, old lady. She can’t work hard enough to keep her house and herself alive. Without my help, she’ll be out in the street. Tell her what I said, and ask her if she would like that.”
Mrs. Rosario translated.
“Well?” my aunt demanded, bringing her hands to her hips and stepping closer to me. “Are you going to do what I want you to do or not? Yes or no? I have no more time to waste. Tell her!”
Señora Rosario told me.
The tears broke free from the corners of my eyes. I couldn’t imagine mi abuela Anabela left to live on the street. Her friends wouldn’t permit it, but I also knew she was too proud to accept charity. I lowered my head and nodded.
“Good. Get her miserable things together,” my aunt told Señora Rosario. “Mr. Baker has wasted enough time. Bring her back in two weeks speaking English well enough to get by, or I’ll see to it that you’re deported along with her,” my aunt threatened him.
Señor Baker laughed, but whatever she had told him brought a little fear to his face, especially into his eyes.
“Don’t worry. I know I’ll be successful,” he said. “We’ll be successful,” he told me in Spanish.
“Go on. Get her started!” my aunt ordered.