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She rose to tend the child
Wil stared down at the silver necklace in his hand In a flash of resentment, he dropped the medal ion into the space beneath the floorboard where he normal y hid his cash
Let Saint Anthony stay in San Antonio Soledad would have no more need of him Wil would protect her
He would ain
He closed up the secret place in the floor, and made his phone cal to Gerry Far A moment later, the apartht Wil back to the present
The patrol car was several blocks up Roosevelt, red lights flashing, the cop tapping his bul horn as he pul ed through traffic
Wil was prepared to turn on a side street, to run if he had to, but a block away frohborhood
Probably nothing to do with him
He turned on the radio Ied leader of the Floresvil e Five"
Wil turned it off He didn’t want to know His nerves were frayed enough It was seven in the evening, sun going down He needed to find a store to rob
Final y a corner sign caught his interest--ZUNIGA’S PRODUCE The nah Wil was sure he’d never seen the place before
Its wal s were an odd color of stucco, like Chinese skin, so veined with cracks they seemed ready to fal apart The doors were propped open with Black Diamond watermelons Heaped outside ooden crates of other produce--tomatoes, avocados, chili peppers, plantains
No cars were parked out front No customers at al , that Wil could see The store wouldn’t have much cash in the til , but it wouldn’t have surveil ance caals The oould have no great desire to cal the police
Zuniga
The naed at Wil ’s ined Reverend Riggs’ laser-blue eyes staring into hi to burn a hole in the small part of Wil ’s conscience that stil believed in God
He parked the car He’d hesitated long enough
Inside were two aisles--one for groceries, the other for produce There was no one behind the counter-- just a curtain to a back office, a cigarette rack, a black-and-white television with a Spanish telenovela flickering on the screen
In the produce section, an aging Latino in a tank top and sweat pants and rubber galoshes was spraying down the fruit The line of etable bins al reflected his bel y
A cleaver, a heap of rubber bands, and a large rocer’s eyes atering like crazy Like he’d just taken a break fro the cebollas into bundles Orthe telenovela
He looked over tearful y as Wil picked up a shopping basket
"Nice seein’ the sun out there," Wil told hi his apples
Wil picked up three dusty soup cans, a loaf of Wonder Bread, Fig Newtons, chocolate bars--whatever didn’t look too stale He was conscious of the gun under his Hawaiian shirt, the grip digging into his abdos were e, some apples, a pint of strawberries The smel of the strawberries reminded him of the prison yard--hot su in the fields al around Floresvil e
Wil brought his basket to the counter
There were stil no other custorocer looked over lazily He cal ed, "?Lupe, ven acá!"
Wil felt that unco at the base of his skulHe had the sudden urge to leave
Before he could, the back office curtain parted A woman came out to help hinize her, exactly, but he knew froestures, as if she alking through a hot oven Her hair was preray, tied back in a bun Her face, once beautiful enough to warrant a good price, was non tight fro Gerry Far had told hio Gerry had sold one of their acquisitions to a love-struck grocer, an oldout his savings andhis store to possess her Wil and Gerry had joked about how much the old ht’ve been Zuniga
The woman didn’t look at Wil as she emptied his basket
She ran her hands deftly over each ite prices frofor him, told hiht cents
Wil made up his mind He would si to find some cash Surely he’d overlooked at least one twenty-dol ar bil
But he didn’t have tilasses and the dyed hair and ten years of her own freedom--and she yelped with fear "?Es él!"
As if she’d expected hied up her worst memories The television would’ve kept his face constantly before her Like thousands of others he’d brought north, Lupe hted her
The rest happened fast
The grocer Zuniga dropped his spray gun and grabbed the onion cleaver He shouted at Stiret away from his wife He told her to run, cal the police