Señora Rosario brought out my scrambled eggs.
“Gracias, señora.”
She glanced at Sophia and gave me a subtle look of warning. I nodded.
“No se preocupe,” I told her. I wanted to assure her that she did not need to worry about me. “Antes se atrapa al mentiroso que al cojo.”
She laughed.
“What did you say?” Sophia demanded.
“I thanked her for the eggs and told her she made them just like my grandmother used to make them,” I said, which was, of course, ironic because it was a lie. What I really had said was “It’s easier to catch a liar than a cripple.”
For Sophia, who was so accustomed to lies and lying, it was also ironic that she could be fooled so easily. Perhaps she had left the truth so far behind that she could never find it again.
“Good,” she said. “Very good, Mrs. Rosario. Thank you.”
Señora Rosario couldn’t hide her smile, so she quickly left.
“You know,” Sophia said, leaning toward me to whisper, “I really do have to pay more attention in Spanish class as well. I should learn how to speak it so I know when the employees are saying things behind our backs.”
“There are better reasons for you to learn how to speak Spanish, Sophia,” I said, laughing.
Tía Isabela was also surprised to see Sophia up and ready for school so early and so well dressed. She looked at me as if I had been somehow a good influence. I felt guilty about taking any credit for any change in Sophia that was good.
“What are you doing today, Mother?” Sophia asked, which was something I had never heard her ask. She usually had no interest in her mother’s business affairs or even her social life. Tía Isabela’s eyebrows lifted.
“We’re closing on a strip mall, Sophia. Do you know what that means?”
“No.”
“We’re going to own it, and everyone, all the stores in it, will be paying us rent. It’s a steady stream of income.”
“Damn, there is so much I have to learn,” Sophia said, shaking her head and finishing her coffee. “I’ll just be a minute, Delia.”
She hurried out to the stairs.
Señora Rosario brought Tía Isabela her juice and coffee and her newspaper.
“I think I’ll have your famous scrambled eggs, too, this morning, Mrs. Rosario.”
“Very good, Mrs. Dallas.”
She hurried back to the kitchen. Tía Isabela and I looked at each other. She smiled.
“I know what you’re thinking, Delia, but take my advice, accepting even the illusion of happiness and hope is better than the alternative. It enables you to go on. Comprende, señorita?”
“Sí, Tía Isabela.”
Why shouldn’t I understand? I thought.
That was exactly what I was doing now and had been since the day I had arrived.
11
Driving Sophia
One of my Mexican classmates in the ESL class at the public school I attended when I first arrived here had told me the easiest way to make new friends in America was to have a car. I quickly discovered she had not been exaggerating. With the speed of a lightning bolt, Sophia spread the news about my driving her to school in the sports car her brother, Edward, had bought for me. I could practically feel the way the other students were now looking at me. Many who usually hardly said a word to me smiled and tried to start conversations. It was as though I had been accepted into a private club.