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Chapter
12
Chapter 13 - Do�a Lisette
The middle of November came and went. Mike and Ruthie turned in term
papers and started new ones, took and passed all their midterms, and
prepared for the final round of tests and projects for the end of the
semester. When they had work to do on their computers, they quietly
worked in Mike�s room.
However, they often had to go to the library for different projects,
especially if they needed to look up information in the periodicals
section, where a lot of older material that had not yet been posted on
the Internet was still bound in dusty volumes. Both Mike and Ruthie had
to laboriously pick through the volumes, because he had to look at some
very old political science articles and she had to search for literature
reviews. It was a strange experience for both of them, to look at
material that was 40 or 50 years old, in publications that had gone out
of business long ago. The volumes were relics of an era that only
recently had passed into memory, an era killed by the Internet and
electronic storage of information.
On November 15th Ruthie resumed her naked escapades in the library
basement. On that night she and Mike carried their volumes to the study
area and stacked them on one of the spare tables. It was only about
10:00, but no one else was in the room. He commented that the tables had
cleared out a bit early. He remembered Ruthie�s confession about
studying nude and was hoping that night she might want to strip for the
last couple of hours they were in the library.
�Just to let you know�my offer to play look-out for you still stands.�
Ruthie took the hint and kissed him. She pulled down her shorts and took
off her shirt. She covered the chair with her shirt and sat down.
Although she was able to study just fine, Mike found it very hard to
concentrate with the thought of his naked girlfriend sitting only a few
feet from him. He badly wanted to strip as well, but was afraid that it
would be harder for him to quickly put on his clothes if anyone exited
the elevator. For Ruthie it would be easy because all she had to do was
slip on her shorts and shirt; she did not have to worry about buttons or
zippers.
When she went to look for books or put volumes away, he went with her,
carrying her clothes and standing between her and the elevator. There
was much less risk than there had been when she was alone. The challenge
of her naked study time was gone, but so was the fear. She could simply
enjoy the feeling of being naked in the basement, under the protection
of the guy who loved her.
From that day forward Ruthie continued her habit of being naked in the
library. With Mike to keep an eye out for her, she expanded the time she
could spend in the nude, and also experimented with some new areas
within the library. The third floor offered another place where it was
possible to search for books in the nude, but it was somewhat more
trafficked and she would not have been able to safely streak that floor
had she not had Mike to help her and keep her clothes handy. Even with
him helping her, there were a couple of close calls. By the end of the
month she decided that it would be better to stick with the basement.
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As the semester progressed, the two students put in their time at their
respective jobs and earned salaries that were totally inadequate for
their needs and expenses. Even so, from a financial perspective they
were luckier than many of their classmates. Most of Mike�s expenses were
covered by his father�s final round of mortgage loans and Ruthie�s
expenses were covered by several grants. They both knew that their
financial support, although adequate for the moment, was fragile,
precarious, and could vanish at any moment. The uncertainty was
especially true for Ruthie, because she was going to school on state
grants that were very likely to be cut from the California education
budget the following fiscal year.
On the third Monday of November Ruthie showed up to work at 5:00 am as
usual, but when she arrived it was clear that there was nothing usual
about what was going to happen that day. The campus manager, the
district manager, and two auditors were waiting for her. For the next
two hours they looked at her cash drawer and conducted an audit of her
transactions. By 7:00 it was determined that her audit trail balanced
and that the money in her cash drawer was what needed to be there;
nothing more and nothing less. She was dismissed, told that she would
still get her hours for the day, but she needed to leave the student
center and not talk to any of her co-workers. As she was going out the
door, the co-worker who liked to take long smoke breaks passed her. He
gave her an annoyed look, clearly wondering why she was leaving work.
She kept going and did not say anything. It would be the last time she
ever saw him. She never learned all the details, but two of her fellow
baristas were fired that day, one of which was the smoker. The firing of
the two co-workers meant that Ruthie was the only employee from the
morning shift remaining and the manager had to scramble to hire
replacements.
The same week there was a positive development for Mike; the likelihood
soon he would be promoted. Throughout November he continued to deliver a
couple hundred tickets per day for the parking department. His
supervisor noticed his hard work and had him train two new student
ticket-writers. He told Mike that once basketball season started, he
would be placed in charge of other students collecting parking money for
two lots during games. He also decided to make Officer # 036 an
alternate for collecting money from the meters. He would train for the
meter collection job in December and start with that new assignment in
January.
----------
The month anniversary of their getting together came and went. Neither
Mike nor Ruthie was the sort to romanticize dates on a calendar, but as
it became obvious that they were going to stay together, both were faced
with having to decide what to tell their families. Mike figured that he
would break the news to his family during December and bring Ruthie over
to his house sometime over Christmas break. He suspected Ruthie would be
very nervous about meeting his relatives and unless properly prepped
might not make a good impression. The more relaxed the meeting with his
parents, the better.
Ruthie had not made any plans about introducing Mike at all, because she
was used to keeping secrets from her mother. She had a vague intention
to introduce him at some point in the distant future, but wanted to put
it off because she saw no reason why Mike had to be dragged into her
troubled relationships in Salinas.
She ended up having to introduce her boyfriend much earlier than she had
wanted or expected. At the end of the third week of November, she was
talking to her mother on the cell phone from Mike�s room, taking
advantage of having the place to herself on a Friday afternoon. The
conversation consisted of the usual stressed dialogue about Ruthie not
finding a church when it took a turn she had not anticipated:
�Honey, I asked Cristina Rosales to call you. She told me that she did,
a bunch of times. Haven�t you been getting her messages?�
�Uh�no Mom�I didn�t get any messages�that function�s�uh�kinda messed up
on my phone�the messages, I mean�I�m not getting them��
�You need to take that phone in and fix it. Why do you have a cell phone
if you can�t get messages?�
�I haven�t had time Mom, honest.�
�Yes love. But I�ve asked her to go by your room�and she told me she
did�several times�.and she says you�re never there.�
Fucking bitch, thought Ruthie to herself. Why can�t Cristina mind her
own fucking business?
�Of course I�m not there! I�m in the library!�
�Ruthie, she�s gone by your room at 11:00! You�re telling me you�re at
the library until 11:00?�
�Mom�I�m in the library until it closes.�
�Please don�t do that to me. Don�t you know it�s not safe for you to be
out like that? What would I do if something happens to you?�
�Mom, nothing�s gonna happen to me.�
�You�re walking around at night�alone�and you say nothing�s gonna happen
to you.�
�I�m not walking around alone, Mom. Mike brings me back every night. I�m
perfectly safe.�
�Mike? Who�s Mike?�
Oh, shit�thought Ruthie. She was silent, desperately trying think how to
cover that slip. Her mother�s suspicious voice repeated itself.
�Who is Mike, Ruthie? You need to tell me who Mike is.�
Ruthie took a deep breath. She wanted to come up with a lie, but she was
a terrible liar and knew that lying would come back to haunt her later.
Might as well come clean now and be done with it�
�Mike�s�uh�kinda my boyfriend, Mom��
Ruthie heard her mother�s voice crack on the phone.
�I knew it! So that�s why you�ve been running away from Cristina! You�re
up there leading a secretive sinful life and you didn�t want me to know!
Don�t you know that the Scripture says that everything you wish to keep
under a lamp will be shouted from the rooftops? Don�t you know that, my
daughter? You�re not just running from me; you�re running from the Lord,
aren�t you?!�
�Mom! MOM! It�s not like that! Honest! Mike�s not what you think! He�s a
nice guy!�
�Yes, he�s a �nice guy�! I�m sure he is! They�re all �nice guys� because
they all want is to use you to satisfy their lustful sinful desires! I
knew it! I knew you would do this to me!�
�Mom! It�s not that way! Honest! It�s not like that! I�ll have you meet
him! I�ll have you talk to him! You�ll see he�s not what you think!�
�I don�t believe you! I know that you are a liar!�
�Mom! The Scripture says �Judge not, that you not be judged. For with
the judgment you pronounce you shall be judged and the measure you give
is the measure you shall receive!� You are the one committing a sin, by
passing judgment on someone you haven�t even met! At least meet him
before you start casting stones!�
There was silence on the other end.
�Mom?�
�It�s OK, love��
�What�s OK?�
�I apologize. Bring your boyfriend here. I�ll meet him. I shouldn�t have
passed judgment so quickly. But if you�re with a man, I am your mother,
and I have a right to know.�
�Yes, Mom. I shouldn�t have kept it from you�but I wasn�t sure how
things were gonna go with him��
Ruthie managed to get her mother to calm down enough that she was able
to give a superficial description of Mike and a censored version of the
relationship they had developed over the past month. She played up the
fact that Mike�s family did go to church, although she knew very little
about that detail of his life other than the Sinclairs were mainline
Protestants and not evangelicals.
Ruthie�s mother suggested that Mike go to Salinas to meet her on Sunday,
but Ruthie knew better than to go along with that, because a Sunday trip
would entail spending several hours at church. Ruthie, grasping for some
way she could keep a minimal amount of control over what was going on,
suggested meeting Mike the very next day�Saturday�having to make the
commitment without any input from him.
She was still on the phone when he came in from work, talking in the
normal mixture of Spanish and English that she used with her Salinas
relatives. It was a very strange experience for him to listen to her
speaking in �Spanglish�. Because he had never heard her talk to any of
her relatives, he had taken it for granted that she spoke in one or the
other of the two languages, not that weird mix. He also could tell that
she was very stressed out from the conversation, and became even more
stressed out upon seeing him. She cut short the call:
�Bye, Mom. Nos vemos ma�ana.� She pushed the disconnect button.
�What�s going on tomorrow?�
Ruthie took a deep breath. What�s going on tomorrow�well, that was going
to be a bit complicated�
�Mike�uh�I kinda told my mom about us�and she�s gonna want to meet you.�
�Tomorrow? But it�s gonna be nice weather�and I thought you wanted to go
to the beach��
�We gotta do it tomorrow. You mind driving me down to Salinas?�
�Uh�well�no�I don�t mind, but this�kinda came up fast��
�I know. I�m sorry�but I got to talking to my mom on the phone and she
started asking me how come I�m never in my room�and I told her that I�m
in the library�and then she started bitching at me that it�s not safe to
be out by myself�and that�s when�I kinda told her about us.�
�OK, so tomorrow I�m gonna meet your mom. Is that a big deal?�
�Yeah, Mike. It kinda is�there�s some stuff�a lot of stuff�I mean�I�m
dealing with a lot of stuff with her�I mean�you�ll meet her and you�ll
see what I�m talking about.�
�Then I�m gonna have to know what �a lot of stuff about her� is. Up to
now you really haven�t told me all that much about her. I don�t even
know her name. All you�ve said is that she�s from a town in Mexico
called Culiacan, she jumped the border 20 years ago, she�s really into
religion, and she wants to go home someday. That�s not a whole lot for
me to go on. I mean, is she gonna have a problem that I�m a gringo? Is
that it?�
�No. That�s not it. My dad�s a gringo too�so even if it does bother her,
she wouldn�t be able to say anything. With her it�s gonna be her fucking
religion. She�s probably gonna want to ask you a bunch of shit about
that�are you �saved��do you have Jesus in your heart�shit like that.�
�No problem. If she wants to talk about religion, I�ll talk about
religion. It�s not like I�ve never set foot in a church.�
Ruthie fidgeted with anxiety.
�There�s a lot more to it. I mean�she�s gonna want to know what we do
together�and�there�s something that�s been going on that I haven�t told
you about� she�s kinda pissed at me��
Over the next half hour Ruthie tried to explain what had been going on
between her and her mother since she had entered the university. For the
first time in six years she had the opportunity to enjoy a break from
going to church. She did not have to spend her Wednesday nights and
Sundays listening to apocalyptic sermons and psychotic rants. She did
not have to �fake it�; she did not have to act like she believed in
something that she had quit believing in three years before. She did not
have to hold back the urge to stand up in the pew and scream �You�re
lying! What you�re saying is total bullshit!�
The problem that Ruthie had in Davenport was her mother suspected the
truth. Every time they talked on the phone, she was constantly nagging
about finding a church. If all Ruthie had to do was lie from a distance
the situation would be bearable, but over the past month she had deal
that bitch Cristina Rosales looking for her. Ruthie described her with
the Spanish word �metiche�, which roughly translates as
�meddlesome�. She was totally stressed about that situation, because the
moment Cristina managed to catch her, she�d either have go to Cristina�s
church to shut her up, or she�d have to confront her with the truth,
which would immediately be relayed back to her mother.
Ruthie said all of that while sitting on the bed tensed up. She was
staring straight ahead and her hands were shaking. She concluded:
�One of the things my mom�s gonna want to know is that you�re serious
about me.�
Mike took her hands and got her to stand up. He hugged her.
�That part�s easy. I don�t need to convince her I�m serious about you. I
am serious about you.�
Ruthie took a deep breath and put her arms around him. Yes Mike was
serious about her�she knew that�and she deeply cared about him as
well�but�but�
----------
The following morning Ruthie showed up at Mike�s room in a conservative
green dress and matching top. It was strange for him to see her in that
outfit, because it was the most clothing he had seen her wearing since
they met. He could tell that she was uncomfortable in that get-up. The
dress looked good on her, but knowing what he knew about her, it did not
go with her personality. To her the dress was not really clothing. It
was a costume that she had to wear so she could perform a role in
Salinas that was totally fake.
Mike also was better-dressed than normal. Instead of his usual
shorts and anti-Mega-Town t-shirt, he wore khaki pants and a long-sleeve
white shirt. When he took Ruthie to his car she noticed that he had
washed it and cleaned out the inside. Then she noticed that his shoes
were shined and that both the shirt and pants were ironed. It was clear
that he was serious about making a good impression on Ruthie�s mother.
On their way to Salinas, Mike asked Ruthie to talk more about her time
in high school. He was not curious about her church, because he figured
that she already had told him what he needed to know. Instead he wanted
to know about her life in the school itself. She started by claiming
that there was not that much to talk about, so he got her to talk about
her classes. He pushed her to talk about her time in middle school,
about her first year in Salinas and her last year in Lincoln. What he
wanted to know was why she suddenly moved from Nebraska to California
when she was 12, but she had made it clear that she did not want to talk
about that. Driven by curiosity, he cautiously probed that period of her
life to get a hint of what happened, without being too obvious. He got a
few clues. She inadvertently told him the move to Salinas happened very
suddenly and was traumatic for her. She mentioned in passing that she
felt that her father had betrayed and abandoned her. A little while
later she said that she hated her father and �that fucking bitch he�s
with�. When they approached Salinas, she mentioned that in Lincoln she
was raised by her grandmother. When Mike asked, she clarified that it
was her father�s mother who raised her.
Like pieces of a puzzle, Mike put together the hints that she
inadvertently gave him. While living in Nebraska she had been raised by
her grandmother, not her father. She was happy up until her grandmother
died, and that was when she was eleven. A year later she suddenly moved
to Salinas against her wishes. He guessed that the �fucking bitch� was a
second marriage and possibly the reason she was forced to leave Lincoln.
Now that he was about to meet her mother, Mike knew that a lot more of
his questions about her would be answered. Ruthie knew that as well. She
was not happy about the prospect, because she had been hoping to keep at
least some of her life secret from her boyfriend. She sighed, because it
seemed things like that never worked out for her.
----------
When they pulled into Ruthie�s apartment complex, she directed him to go
to the management office to get a visitor�s pass. Once Mike�s car was
parked in a visitor�s space, she led him past several two-story
buildings that seemed in fairly decent condition. He could hear Mariachi
music playing from several apartments. A couple of groups of small
children were playing outside on the grass. The children were conversing
in Spanish. They passed a laundry mat with coin-operated washers and
dryers. He noticed his girlfriend half-heartedly waving to several
people they passed. He received some curious looks from neighbors,
because no one in the complex had ever seen her with a guy other than
her cousin.
Mike reflected that if Ruthie had to come into this place directly from
a house in Nebraska; that would have been a rough transition, especially
for a kid who was 12. In spite of the fact the property�s physical
condition was acceptable; the complex had a sinister feel to
it. Ruthie had mentioned that gang members lived in some of the units
and had talked about the night she witnessed a shooting. He definitely
could understand why Ruthie�s mother would not have wanted her wandering
around the area after dark.
Mike reminded his girlfriend that she still had not told him her
mother�s name, nor how he should call her. She responded that her name
was Lisette Montoya Burns. She realized that she wasn�t sure how she
should be addressed: whether it should be Mrs. Burns or Do�a Lisette.
Finally she settled on Do�a Lisette.
Ruthie�s apartment was in a building at the far end of the complex. It
was a second-story unit that looked out over the parking lot of an
office park. The position gave it relative privacy in comparison with
most of the other apartments, which had windows facing into the windows
of other residences. They went up the stairs and Ruthie opened the door
with her own key.
�Mom! Ya estamos!�
Ruthie�s mother came out of the kitchen. She looked somewhat like an
older version of her daughter, but her skin was much darker and her
facial features reflected her mostly Indian ancestry. She gave Mike a
very suspicious look, but Ruthie took her arm and introduced her to her
boyfriend.
Ruthie did not know what to expect from the introduction, other than
assuming everyone would spend a very tense couple of hours that would
have an unpleasant ending. Mike, however, had some time to think over
how he was going to handle himself the day. He knew that, above anything
else, he had to find neutral topics about which he could talk to a
difficult person who could very well become a future in-law. He started
out with a few simple questions to figure out how well Do�a Lisette
spoke English, such as how she liked living in Salinas and how long she
had been in the apartment. He told her that Ruthie had mentioned that
she originally was from Culiacan and asked her what it was like.
Do�a Lisette talked haltingly at first, but then Mike found the topic he
was looking for: San Diego. Ruthie�s mother always had a special place
in her heart for San Diego because it was the one place where she had
some fun. In spite of being afraid of being caught by La Migra, she had
been in San Diego when she was young and single. There were discos and
attractions such as Sea World. Mike knew nothing about the city�s
nightlife, but he was very familiar with the attractions from having
gone there with his family. Mike and Do�a Lisette compared their
experiences in San Diego. The fact that Mike went there with his parents
seemed to set her at ease.
When Ruthie�s mother changed the topic to what was going on at the
university, he was ready. He talked about the hours of studying and
backed up Ruthie�s statement that they stayed in the library until it
closed. He explained why they had to stay there so late, because they
had to conduct research from volumes that could not be checked out. She
asked about the danger of a young woman being alone at such a late hour.
With no hesitation he responded:
�Of course it�s dangerous for a girl like Ruthie to be out by herself
that late. That�s why I always take her back to her dorm and make sure
she gets in OK. For a guy it�s not so bad, so I drop her off first and
then go to my own building.�
When the topic changed to religion, again Mike was ready. He noticed
Ruthie tensing up and fidgeting, but he ignored her. He talked at length
about going to church with his parents while growing up and about
various experiences that he had with his church group. He made himself
sound much more religious than he really was, but he did not tell his
host a single thing that was not true or that had not really happened to
him.
Mike could tell that Do�a Lisette was still suspicious of his family�s
church, but the godless party-boy that she had been expecting was not
the person sitting in front of her. Mike was polite, serious,
intelligent, and seemed to care for her daughter.
The issue of church bothered Do�a Lisette and she pressed Mike on why
they were not attending services. Mike apologized about that, saying
that he was bothered by that lack in their lives as well, but what he
wanted to do was return to attending services at his parents� church. He
commented that it was a real shame that there was no decent church in
Davenport. When Ruthie�s mother chided him about not trying to find a
church in Santa Cruz, he simply apologized and agreed that he needed to
pay more attention to his relationship with the Lord.
Mike eased past the explosive topic of religion and started talking more
about Ruthie and her life in college. He talked about how they met
because they were in the same class and how they got to know each other
through talking about literature. He talked about her studying and that
was one thing about her that he admired, how studious and hardworking
she was. He compared her to the lazy rich girls he ticketed and talked
up her kindness and dedication.
Ruthie was quiet as she watched Mike establish rapport with her mother.
He talked to her naturally and was neither intimidated nor
condescending. He was honest about everything he said. Sometimes he
distorted facts and events by taking them out of their context, but not
once did he say anything false. His handling of the conversation was
very different from Ruthie�s habit of blatant lying and evasive answers.
Mike was at an advantage because he felt more at ease talking to older
people than he did talking to people of his own age group. The
difference in years and life experiences put enough distance between
Mike and older individuals that he did not need to struggle talking
about things such as popular culture that did not interest him. His
intellectual curiosity made him want to talk to people whose information
and experiences differed from his own, from whom he could learn
something or get a different perspective. With a person such as his
girlfriend�s mother it was easy for him to have such a conversation.
The result of the morning�s meeting was what Ruthie had least expected,
that her mother actually liked her boyfriend. She opened up with him,
telling him about some of the girl�s difficulties in school and the
worries that she had over sending her off to college. Ruthie was not
pleased with the turn of the conversation, because Mike learned several
details about her life that she really had not wanted him to know.
At noon Ruthie�s aunt and her cousin Rosa came over to her apartment to
make their weekly trek to the nearby Salinas Mega-Mart. Mike met two
more of Ruthie�s relatives and had a chance to further ingratiate
himself. He shocked his girlfriend by agreeing to go shopping with the
group when they asked if he and Ruthie wanted to join them. For the next
two hours he helped the women load their carts with heavier items and
then helped them load the purchases into the back of their car. He spent
a lot of his time in the store talking to Ruthie�s cousin: describing
his academic experiences in Chicago and California, making comparisons
between the two universities, and giving her some basic advice on taking
tests and writing term papers.
Ruthie was totally �weirded out�, as she always liked to say, by his
behavior. Mike�setting foot in a Mega-Mart? As they walked up and down
the aisles, she could tell that he was repulsed by being there. Later
she would need to ask him why he agreed to accompany her relatives into
the hated store.
----------
They left Ruthie�s apartment in the late afternoon. Ruthie hugged her
mother good-bye and Mike kissed her on the cheek. They made their way
out of the complex and drove around Salinas, making a quick visit to the
old downtown. Ruthie pointed out several places that she had known in
high school and shared several more events of her life. Before going
back to Davenport they stopped at a local burrito place, where Ruthie
often went with her relatives when she was still in high school.
Ruthie�s feelings about the day were very mixed. The first thing she
wondered about was the Mega-Mart trip. If Mike hated Mega-Mart so much,
how could he agree to go there? He responded that he could justify the
trip because he was not spending any of his own money in the store.
There was no point in arguing because Ruthie�s relatives would go
shopping at Mega-Mart whether he wanted them to or not. In such a case,
his own feelings were irrelevant. Anyhow, his purpose that day was not
to enlighten her relatives on the evils of Mega-Town Associates. His
purpose was to meet her family and to make her life as easy as possible
by doing what was necessary to make a good impression on them. As he put
it:
�Different things matter at different times. In Davenport I can worry
about Mega-Town all I want. Right now what mattered was me getting along
with your mom.�
�I �spose��
Ruthie was grateful that Mike had given up his day to spend with her
relatives, but she was uneasy with how quickly things with him had
developed. She was simultaneously impressed and worried by how easily he
managed to ingratiate himself with three of her family members. Like it
or not, now he was indeed �her boyfriend�. That was how the world saw
him, and how he saw himself.
Mike showed a side of himself that Ruthie had not known about. To get
along with her mother, he managed to conceal a large portion of his
beliefs and personality, showing only the part of himself that she would
not find offensive. He had the ability to deceive through telling the
truth, a talent that Ruthie did not have. She could tell the truth or
tell a lie (usually badly) but Mike�s subtle manipulation of facts to
create false impressions was something she was incapable of doing.
----------
As Mike and Ruthie drove back to Davenport, Lisette Montoya Burns
accompanied her sister-in-law and her niece back to her brother�s place.
They organized the purchases for Thanksgiving, which was coming up the
following week.
When she got back to her apartment, Lisette took out her Bible and read
some passages, making sure she would be ready for church the following
day. She spent some time in prayer before getting ready for bed.
Finally, she pulled out a photo album to take a look at Ruthie�s
pictures.
There were pictures in that album from the time she was born until she
was three. Then there was a gap of nine years. The pictures did not
start up again until the girl was 12. Little Ruthie�she reflected�not so
little anymore.
It was because of Ruthie that Lisette�s last name was Burns. She was
married for thirteen years, but married in name only most of that time.
She had lived in Salinas, and her husband lived in Lincoln. For the last
nine years of their marriage they had no contact whatsoever, nor did
Lisette have any contact with Ruthie. Then, totally out the blue, she
got a phone call from her husband.
�I�m sending our daughter to live with you. She�ll be flying into San
Jose on Meg-Air Flight # 223 from Salt Lake City at 5:00. Can you get
someone out to the airport to pick her up?�
�I�I�ll send my brother to get her...�
�Good. There�s divorce papers that�ll be coming with her. If you want me
to send you any child support, you�ll have to sign �em and send �em
back.�
�and�that was the end of Lisette�s dysfunctional marriage with Ruthie�s
father. Not that it really mattered, because they had not seen each
other for nearly a decade.
----------
Lisette looked at Ruthie�s baby pictures and reflected on her ill-fated
experience with love in San Diego. She had been going out with a group
of young Mexican women to some discos that also were frequented by
Marines and sailors from the nearby Navy base. Many of the military
guys, the Marines especially, were Hispanic and spoke fluent Spanish.
One night she was with her group of friends when they hooked up with a
group of sailors from an aircraft carrier. There were a couple of white
guys in the group, including a petty officer by the name of Jake Burns.
By that time Ruthie�s mother spoke just enough English that she could
get by, and Petty Officer Burn�s shipmates could help out with
translating when it was needed. He was interesting and different from
anyone she had ever met. His blond hair fascinated her.
Jake liked to have fun and enjoyed taking Lisette to various places
around San Diego. For three months he splurged on her while he waited
for his ship to sail. He never really planned on staying with her past
his sailing date, and she had no real plans at all. They were together
for the moment. He�d leave and she�d go back to trying to find a job and
avoid being deported. At that point her brother already had a job in
Salinas and was waiting for her to join him.
The month before Petty Officer Burns was ready to ship out; Lisette
realized she had a big problem. She had missed her period. She waited
two weeks, hoping that her menstruation would miraculously come about,
but nothing. She bought a test kit and found out that, sure enough, she
was pregnant.
When she approached Jake about the problem, his answer was simple: get
an abortion. She was so horrified by the suggestion that she actually
slapped him. Get an abortion? Are you crazy? Do you want to murder our
child? Do you want me to go to Hell?
They argued for a week as Jake�s sailing date rapidly approached.
Finally he decided that the easiest thing to do would be to give Lisette
a marriage certificate so she could get military benefits for the baby.
He really didn�t care, because he was going to be out to sea anyway. So,
he took her to a local Justice of the Peace with a couple of his
shipmates to serve as witnesses, then took her to the Navy base to get
an ID as a spouse so she could see the military doctors. From there he
took her to DMV to get a state ID. Lisette was not pleased with the
brusque way Jake was treating her but at least, if nothing else, her
legal situation was resolved and she no longer had to worry about La
Migra.
Jake was gone more than a year. While he was gone, Lisette had her
daughter, who she wanted to call Luz Maria. Jake overruled her and told
her that he wanted the girl�s name to be Ruthie. Worried about what was
going to happen when Jake finally got back from his tour, she agreed.
When he got back, Jake decided that he wanted to stay with Lisette
after-all. He moved her and the baby into an apartment for the final six
months of his contract with the Navy. He became attached to Ruthie and
attentive to his wife. Lisette, however, was getting bored and anxiously
waited for Jake to get out of the Navy so he could help her get a job.
When Ruthie was two, Jake finally left the service and moved his wife
and daughter to Lincoln, where the marriage quickly deteriorated. He had
work lined up as a mechanic, but no job materialized for Lisette. His
friends and relatives totally cold-shouldered her. He hooked up with
some of his old friends from high school and started to go out drinking.
He insisted on leaving Ruthie with his mother during the days, because
he did not want the child to grow up speaking Spanish. Lisette was
totally cut off from everything that was familiar to her. Even going to
church didn�t work out, because at the time there were not many
Hispanics in Lincoln and she definitely did not fit in with any of the
white congregations.
Within six months Lisette had enough of Jake and Lincoln and wanted to
join her brother in Salinas. She wanted to take Ruthie, but there was no
way either Jake or his mother would be willing to part with her. She was
under the impression that divorce was not an option, because if she got
divorced, she�d be subject to deportation. A recent INS round-up of
illegal immigrants working at a nearby meat-packing plant drove home
that point. Finally she got on a bus and simply left. Two days later she
was in Salinas. She moved in with her brother and his wife. Within a
month he helped her get a job. A few months later she was in her own
apartment.
Lisette�s mind was full of trauma and guilt as she started her life in
Salinas. The pastor of her church told her that she had lived in sin
when partying around San Diego. God had punished her with her unpleasant
marriage and the loss of her daughter. The only hope for her was to lead
as upright a life as possible and to spend the rest of her mortal days
serving the Lord. She would pray to be reunited with her daughter, and
maybe, if the Lord chose to bless her, at some point Ruthie would
re-appear in her life.
Nine years later, Lisette�s prayers were answered. Eight hours after
receiving that phone call from her husband, the Meg-Air flight carrying
the terrified 12-year old landed in the San Jose. Lisette�s brother
picked her up from the airport and brought her to Salinas.
Yes, there were a lot of challenges and the girl had picked up bad
influences in Jake�s house, but what mattered the Lord had spoken and
forced him to release her. Among other details in the divorce agreement
was a line that gave Lisette full custody of Ruthie. There was no
mention about visitation. She gladly signed the document and sent it
back.
Lisette celebrated by taking her daughter to church. The girl would grow
up serving the Lord. She would see to that. It was the least she could
do to praise Him for returning Ruthie to her. At that point the pictures
in her photo album resumed�
Chapter
14
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