Who's To Say?

9 - A Realization

*Sam's POV*

I woke up and immediately went to shower, work waits for no one. After me, went Cathy and Rosa, they had to go to school. I started getting ready for work and I noticed Diana and Lucia hadn't woken up yet.

"Abuela? How come no one's ready for work?" I asked as she was cooking.

"Today's your rest day Mija! Come help me cook."

Well ok. I guess I'll just look good while cooking.

We started boiling some beans for the week, but she asked me to get water.

Where the heck do I get water from?

I looked around and saw the thing I've been avoiding. It's a concrete block essentially. One half just bumpy, and the other completely filled with water.

"Abuela, can I get it from here?"

"From the pila mija!" She yelled back.

I really hope this is the pila.

I grabbed the small bowl there was a scooped some water into it.

"Thank you Sam!" She said as she grabbed the bowl and out it in the pot.

Phew. I'm safe.

I decided to ask about the strange concrete block.

"Abuela, How does this work?" I asked looking down at it.

"You grab the water from this side with a bowl and then use it and dispose it." She guides me by my hands.

"Like this?" I grabbed some water, did nothing, then put it back.

"Ay no! That water would be dirty! You put it here!" She showed me the small drain at the bottom of the other side.

That makes sense.

"Buenos dias!!" We heard someone exclaim.

I looked over and saw Maria, Mariposa, and Martin and dressed in their uniforms. I never noticed that they left later than Cathy and Rosa.

"Tomen! Your lunch money!" Abuela dug in her gavacha and pulled out 9 quarters and have them 3 each.

Three quarters? For lunch money??

What. The. F*ck.

They all left happily.

"Aish, wake up Lucia and Diana for me please?" She asked looking into their room.

I replied and went towards them. I had gotten a lot closer with them these days and decided to have some fun.

"The foods ready." I whispered in Lucia's ear. Didn't work.

"Marco's here to take you out." I said to Diana.

She toppled over the bed like a wet piece of cloth, got Lucia's foot to try and hang on, but ended up bringing both of them to the floor.

I cracked up.

The ruckus caused abuela to come in. She laughed for a bit and then told us to get ready to go to the market.

A farmers market I assumed. Boy was I wrong.

It's a street filled with people and tables and baskets of fruit right off the tree or vine.

The moment you step in you hear people yelling things like, "what do want?, "What can I give you?" "Mija what you gon take?"

Definitely not what I expected, but a little surprise never killed anyone. Right?

We got all types of fruit and vegetables. Some were colored so vibrant they looked painted. Abuela let me taste a couple of them and I noticed one of the ways that this really was different.

This isn't like city living.

This isn't breathing smoke and toxins everyday.

This fruit right here, someone grew this with their bare hands. Someone planted this bush and took care of it, just to sell.

This is a passion.

However, everything was so pricey. Yesterday I got my first paycheck, it was for 36$. We work six days a week, and get payed six dollars a day. Back in Chicago I got payed ten dollars an hour!

We spent half of our salary on a couple of fruits and fish.

We were walking to what I could only assume was a bus stop when Diana mentioned how cheap everything was today.

Ok hold up.

"Cheap?!" I exclaimed

"Odette, we spent half of our salary!" I said waving my arm in the air.

"Um, yeah? Sometimes our entire work week goes to just food."

"Back in Chicago I got paid ten dollars!"

"A day?" She asked

I scoffed. "An hour!"

"Well god dang."

"Stop fighting! We have to catch that truck!" Abuela pointed to a work truck filled with people on the back.

Lucia whistled really loudly and it stopped.

"Adónde?" She asked

"San Marcos." Someone on the truck replied.

Well apparently that's where we were going cause we hopped right on.

Over twist and turns, ups and downs, I observed the city.

Not your typical city.

No skyscrapers and smoke all over the air. Nothing like that at all.

I see trees and mountains and a volcano. I see people going back and forth the same paths. I see the city built to the world and land, rather than the world and land built to the city.

I see El Salvador.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cathy! Pass!" I yelled as I passed the ball to her.

We had gone to a small field to play some soccer cause, why not?

"Nope!" And Rosa swept the ball and kicked it to the opposite side of the field.

"Qué valor!" Me and Cathy exclaimed.

Unlike us, Rosa had actually played in a team and in tournaments. She was obviously better than us.

"Can we play?" We turned to see the three M's, (Maria, Mariposa and Martin) standing there.

"Sure!"

Things got messy.

Mariposa was too small to take the ball from, and not trip so she had it for most of the time. Martin being the only dude, kicked stronger than us, therefore he sat the rest of the game out. Maria kicked the ball yet somehow fell flat on her butt while doing so, and when we were done playing we noticed that we forgot to bring water.

"I'm dying! I'm actually dying!" Maria said with her dramatic self as we walked over to a store.

"Here. Drink this and shut up." Said Rosa as she handed all of us bags of water.

Yeah. Bags of water.

Cathy grabbed it. "What the f*ckkkk?"

"Cathy if you don't shut the he-"

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