13. Tammy: day 2


Tammy really didn’t know what to think about staying in Mexico.  The hardest part at first was not having her cell-phone.  But just being there, away from the life she knew, suddenly torn from her — what kind of future would she have now?  She thought about her mom and Jazmin back in the U.S.  She was shocked her mom would leave her alone in Mexico; her mom wouldn’t want her to stay alone at the house back home, even for the afternoon.  "I mean, come on, I’m 17 already" she would argue, to no avail.

She didn’t realize that the ’hood she grew up in was not as friendly as she thought.  Her mom had shielded her from much of the realities of life that her mom had to deal with, alone, after her grandfather passed on.  She didn’t quite yet understand the faith her mom had in her own intuition — an intuition her mom had gained from living on the street as a teen, combined with the lessons her grandfather had instilled in his daughter – her mother. Years of staying with friends as a teenager; only it seemed the only friends who’s parents were nice enough were typically drug-addicted parents, and the household was chaos, and commonly also housed some not-so-charitable not-so-kind-hearted folks.  Those “clean-cut” parents refused to help, for fear of a street-kid ripping them off.  Trying to keep up with school as Tammy’s mom struggled through all that … yea … years of lifelong lessons of survival hones the instinct and intuition.  And her mom’s intuition told her it was O.K. at this Church — or so she had told Tammy.  She must have believed it, or she wouldn’t have left …

But still, at this point, the hardest part was the growing boredom.  No friends, no TicTok, no games …  Yet she knew that this was for the best; that Jazmin really needed help, and that special agent Maxine Leffleur was Jazmin’s best hope.  But the boredom … she was raised in a culture that provides instant entertainment around every turn, no need to think for yourself or create a fun idea to accomplish for yourself.  She asked Father Hernandez if she could help in any way because she was bored.

“Can you work the garden?” he asked.

“Well, I grew up in the city, not on a farm or anything, but you could show me where to dig or something.”

“Right now the plants are growing and need tending.  It’s easy but takes time.  We can show you.”

“I think I have too much time right now, so, O.K.”

Father Hernandez laughed out loud.  “Don’t ever forget that you just said that.  It won’t be long now, you’ll be trying to hold on to time as it turns from iron to liquid to thin air and dust.”

Tammy smiled and nodded.

She worked the garden for a few days, during which time a group of 30 migrants came up from the south, walking, including several young women with their children.  Tammy made friends with the kids, and before long, she was the unofficial babysitter for the group.  By the end of the week she was helping out in the kitchen also, as they fed all the newcomers as well as the previous stragglers and others waiting to cross into the U.S.

Juan came back from his last trip, and presented her with a cell-phone.  “Father Thomas said to give this to you.”

She wondered if her mom was going to call … what was happening back in New York?  Would her mom be back soon?  What if they found her mom?  Would she be left here in Mexico?  The thought of loosing her mom terrorized her, but being left here didn’t…  That realization almost surprised her.  She was happy, more so than being back in N.Y. with TicTok and video games, just tending to plants, playing with kids, making food, and eating.  She looked at her phone; a week ago, she would have dove right into Facebook upon receiving a phone.  Now?  She only wanted to know her mom was O.K.

That night after the kids went to bed and the kitchen was clean, she opened her phone to see what kind of service she had.  Real internet service.  Wow!  So?  How to find her mom?  She typed in "Leo New York".  It was slow, but she got results from "Legal Education" to pizza to hotels to …  She tried "Leo New York tutor".  Plenty of tutors came up, but none matched what she briefly learned about her mom’s friend.  She tried page 2, then page 3.  There he was!  She clicked the link, and his picture showed up.  She dialed the phone number, but the phone service beeped at her and responded “all circuits are busy now.  Please hang up and try again later” and the phone clicked, and the screen showed the connection ended.

She was tired, already in bed, and said to herself “I guess I’ll try tomorrow.”