MOMENT OF TRUTH¹ eli moskowitz

the prize

Over in the Diaz apartment, Miguel was reading the two families the essay he had written for Stanford to add to his application

"'Not all of us have to learn how to walk twice in one lifetime. But we do all have to learn how to pick ourselves back up when we're down and stand firmly on our own two feet. And in the end, I learned that first steps are harder the second time around. I hope my next step bring me to Stanford University.'"

"I am so proud." Carmen said as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "I'm gonna cry!"

"Esto es brillante. Es la historia más grandiosa desde Don Juan DeMarco. ¡Oh, ahora yo también estoy llorando!" Rosa told him as she started to tear up.

This is brilliant. It's the greatest story since Don Juan DeMarco. Oh, now I'm crying too.

"Go more for the jugular at the end." Johnny advised him, "They'll be begging you to go there."

"Ok. What about you, Amara, Robby? What do you guys think?"

Amara glanced over at Robby to see who would speak first, "Uhm, you- you can definitely tell you put your time and effort into it. It really does show who you are."

"Uh, It's great." Robby said, piggybacking on what Amara said, "Even though I'm kind of the bad guy in it."

"Uh, I...I'll change your name. I..."

"No, dude." Robby said, stopping him, "I'm... I'm kidding. It's not like I'm applying to Stanford. Or anywhere, really."

"Come on, Robby. You have great futures ahead of you, all three of you." Johnny told the kids, "When we win the Sekai Taikai, doors will be flying open for all of us."

Miguel looked over at Amara, "Maybe even Yale."

Rosa cried as she pulled onto Miguel's shoulders and clinged to him, as she cried and spoke in Spanish very brokenly.

"Yaya..." Miguel said as he patted her shoulder and her tears fell on the keyboard of the laptop. "Hey, it's ok."

"Hey, hey, easy with the waterworks." Johnny said, as Rosa pulled back. Water continued to drip on the surface. They all looked up to see a leak in the ceiling as it poured down more.

The family yelped as they all moved back as the pipe busted and fell through the ceiling. Amara quickly grabbed Miguel's laptop as the four stood up from the table.

"Rob, Rob, Rob, uh, the bowls!" Miguel directed as Robby grabbed a bunch and put them underneath to try and stop the leak from getting on anything important. But the water was filling up fast, and wasn't stopping.

"It's the sewage pipe." Johnny said, as he tried to help the boys, "Oh, it smells like shit."

"Yeah, probably because it is shit." Amara told her father as she held her nose, "Oh, God."

•♪~†~♪•

The Diaz's had moved in with Amara, Johnny, and Robby in their apartment until the sewage pipe was fixed. Amara had given her room away to Rosa and moved into Robby's room.

"Miguel's bringing the rest of his stuff in here." Amara told Robby as they had gotten a cot set up on the side. "I'll go out and see if I can find another cot."

"No, it- it's fine." Robby said, "Miguel and I can bunk together and you can take the cot."

"Or I take the bed, and you two fight over who gets the cot."

Robby chuckled, "Nice try."

"All right. This is the last of it." Miguel said, as he walked into the room with a frown on his face.