Florida Kilos

Kinda Outta Luck

"Please Mr.Lasso, all I need is one more month and I'll pay you, with interest." There was a silence on the other end of the line until I heard a faint sigh," Okay Marina, I'll give you another month, but if you don't have the money, I'll have to evict you." I nodded my head," I know, I know, I'll have it. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Mr.Lasso." "Don't go thanking me yet, goodbye Ms.Marina." "Bye."

I hung up the phone and covered my face in my hands; I know I told Mr.Lasso to give me another month but i don't think i could get it by then. He's given me so many favors and I know that this will definitely be the last. I exhaled the long breath I was holding in," Mommy, are you okay?" My head shot up from the sound of her voice, her sweet angelic voice,"Yeah mommy's okay." She reluctantly ran to me, wrapping her fragile arms around me. This little girl is what keeps me going everyday, without her I would be nothing, cause that's what I was before. Nothing. Just a young naive girl thinking that the world was at her fingertips until reality hit her in the face instead.

"Mommy look at what I did at daycare." She held up a piece of paper that had a baby blue background, with yellow flowers around the border of the paper, and in the middle was her name spelled out with different colors,"A-M-A-L-I-T-A" "Did you do this all by yourself?" She proudly nodded her head as i embraced her into another hug,"You are so smart, Amalita. Watch, once you're in school you're gonna be smarter than all the other kids." "Can i put it on the fridge?" "Sure." she hopped off my lap and ran towards the fridge, i got up from my seat and walked towards Amalita. I picked her up from the floor and held her up in front of the freezer door, she grabbed some magnets and placed the picture on the fridge.

I put her back down,"Go get cleaned up for dinner." "Okay." she ran off to her room. Suddenly the phone rang and I immediately grabbed it off the hook,"Hello?" "Hey Marina." "Oh hey Rich, what's going on?" "You should come to my place and have dinner." "Rich I've already started cooking." "Lies. I know you Marina, there's not one pot or pan out." I looked over at the empty stove and sighed,"Alright you caught me." "I know i did, now come on. Mary really wants to see you and Lita." "Alright, alright. We're coming. I'll see you in a little bit."

I put the phone back on the hook and walked to Amalita's room. She was sitting on her bed playing with her stuffed bunny, Daisy, that my mother gave her when she was born," Ama, put your shoes on, we're going to Rich's for dinner." She flashed me a smile and hopped off the bed," Can Daisy come too?" "Of course." I combed my hand through her thick wavy locks and kissed the top of her head.

I went back into my room and slipped on a pair of shoes, and grabbed my purse and keys from my dresser. Amalita was already by the door waiting with Daisy cradled in her arms,"Alright lets go." We went out the door, Amalita went down the stairs before me and ran to the olive colored AMC Matador that i've had since I was a teenager.
I locked the door to the small crummy house that i could barely afford and walked to the car. I unlocked the doors and helped Amalita into her car seat and buckled her in. I closed the door and got into the drivers seat myself. I put the keys into the ignition, started the car and drove to Rich's house.

On the way, I couldn't help but let my mind wander; I have a month to pay rent on the house and my job recently let me go. The reasoning having to be because of too many workers and not enough money to pay them all, so unfortunately I was one of many to be laid off. Finally, I pulled into Rich's driveway and parked the car. I let Amalita out of her seat and we walked up to his front door, Ama knocked on the door and we stood there patiently.

Momentarily, the door swung open to reveal a very happy Rich," Marina! Lita!" He unexpectedly engulfed me into a hug,"Oh lord." he let me go and picked up Amalita,"You're still beautiful as always Lita." She shyly hid her joyful face,"What about Daisy?" He glanced at the bunny,"Daisy is just as lovely." "Alright, alright. We came here to eat not compliment each other." Rich glanced over at me and smirked,"Is someone jealous because they weren't told that they were beautiful?" I playfully glared at him and followed him into the house. He closed the door behind me and I went into the kitchen; I inhaled the delicious smell that enveloped the room,"Mary, look who decided to show their faces." Mary stopped everything she was doing and turned around to face us," Marina!" "Hey Mary." She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tight,"I missed you so much. Why haven't you stopped by lately?" I shrugged my shoulders like it was nothing,"Just workin' you know."

She gave me an unconvinced expression and turned her attention to Amalita,"Look at my Ama. How are you sweetheart!?" She lightly pinched her cheeks,"I'm good, how are you?" "I'm fine now that you're here. We've missed you so much Ama." Amalita unwrapped her arms from Rich and reached over to hug Mary. It was nice seeing them interact with each other again, I haven't talked to them in a while; around 2 months actually. Seeing them again kinda made me feel bad, they were my only friends, well family here and I completely ignored them.

After the little reunion, Rich , Ama and I sat at the dining table; Mary was still finishing the meal,"So how's life Marina?" I shrugged my shoulders,Rich rolled his eyes,"You're not fooling anyone Marina. Something's up. Is Caesar messing with you again?" I sighed,"No. I haven't heard from him for awhile now." "Then what's wrong? You know you can come to me, to Mary for anything." "Yeah, I know." "Then what's up?" I inhaled then exhaled,"I lost my job," I tried not to look at him but I could feel his eyes on me," I only have a month to pay rent and if I don't have it by then, I'll be evicted." I glanced at him as he combed his hands through his stiff thick hair," What am I gonna do?"
He glanced up at the ceiling then back at me,"Listen, I've been working at this mansion, new people are always coming in. I could talk to someone and maybe get you a job there." "You'd do that for me?" "Of course, as long as you don't ignore me again." I grabbed ahold of his hand and kissed it all over,"Thank you Rich. I really appreciate it."