Once Upon A Wish : Book One Read Online Free Page B

to comfort his stress as
well as his bruise. He glared up at the ceiling and didn't speak.
The room filled with the sound of a plane going by. We're a pair of deaf idiots in the dark.
“You all right?” Hernan sat down on the
couch and stared at Nestor.
“I think I have a concussion.”
“I should have brought you to the
doctor.”
“No,” Nestor said, waving off the suggestion and tossing the ice
bag on the coffee table. He looked up at the ceiling again as if
waiting for his frustration to dissolve into numbness. “That would
mean just more bills.”
    “My abuelita said people worry about
money too much. Makes them forget about what is
important.”
    “Your abuelita wasn't grounded in reality.
People say things like that but it takes money to enjoy the
important things. Like eating for one. A roof over your
head.”
“She said God would provide.” He said it
with bravado.
“God hates us.” Nestor whispered, trying to
get up and Hernan sprang over to assist. Nestor waved him off and
got up by himself. He walked over to the window and looked out at
the graffiti painted walls. The landscape burned in his brain like
a future bad memory then sank into darkness as one of the street
lamps blew out.
     
Nestor felt shame. He thought about getting
a one-bedroom apartment. He would sleep on the couch. It really
didn't matter. His gambling got them into this hole. He needed to
stop denying that he was the loser. Not Hernan. He just brought the
kid along for the ride.
    “I have to do some
thinking, amigo ,”
Nestor said.
He went to the refrigerator and took out a
bottle of Corona. Covering it in a paper bag, he exited through the
door.
Nestor walked past the street vendors
peddling tamales for a dollar. He laughed at how he couldn't even
afford that.
    What will we
do ?
He passed on the tamales but he did not
take a pass on the six bottles of beer he bought at the liquor
store.
Nestor walked to the park, ignoring the
bums exchanging needles under the swing set. He went under the
furthest tree, laid flat on his back and drank himself drunk.
***
The restaurant would be empty from two
until around six. The last to leave on the swing shift, he
intentionally left the back entrance unlocked. He left the
apartment exactly at two o'clock. Nestor fell asleep in front of
the television, the smell of beer strong around him.
The quiet of the East Oakland night put
Hernan on edge. He entered through the back door as planned and
turned on the kitchen light. He already had his story straight. If
someone caught him, he would say he forgot his coat. He would say
the lights were on so he just went in and retrieved it.
He opened the front cash register and found
an empty drawer.
The safe?
He remembered Cisneros kept the spare key
in his office. Good luck trying to find that.
His eyes turned to the register at the
cocktail bar. He jumped over the counter and popped the machine
open. There were twenties and a few hundreds. A lot of small bills.
Hernan stuffed them into his backpack. Pushing his luck, he went
back to Cisneros' office. He rummaged through the drawers looking
for a set of keys. He found some but there were about thirty on the
chain. He went over to the side of the safe and began inserting
them one by one.
    Hernan didn’t like to
steal. Whenever he did, he imagined his abuelita looking down at him from
heaven and he felt shame.
He rationalized his actions because he
worked overtime numerous days the prior week and did not get paid
for it. He addressed the oversight to Cisneros but the man just
brushed him off.
He did not tell Nestor about being cheated
out of his rightful pay. Nestor would demand revenge, but he was
starting to see things Nestor's way. People will take advantage of
you when you play by the rules.
So, Hernan was striking back.
Annoyed that he did not find the master for
the safe right away, he dropped the keys back into Cisneros’
drawer.
He looked through the kitchen and thought
of other items he could steal.