Violett's Diary

Just kidding!!

 "May 32, 1976

Just kidding!!

It's actually June 1.

So, I was supposed to tell you why I have two names.

It all started a few months ago. Early February I think.

It was a Sunday and I came home early from church and didn't see anyone so I just came up to my bedroom and started doing some homework. I imagined that my parents had gone shopping or something.

My dad is a door to door salesman. He travels to towns selling stuff and usually comes home late at night, so I hardly see him. He has this old car that is always breaking down on him.

My mom is a sweatshop worker. Do you know what a sweatshop is? Well, it's this place where they make clothes. They have a bunch, and I mean a whole bunch of ladies in a large room all with sewing machines and they are sewing ALL DAY LOOOONG!!! They get paid by the piece, so the more pieces they make, the more money they earn. But they only get a few cents per piece, so that's why they work so hard and so long. They start working at 8 in the morning and they don't stop until 6 or 7 pm.

Anyway, like I said, that Sunday I went to church but I came home early and I didn't see them. After a few minutes, though, I heard voices in the dining room so I went down to say hello. But as I was about to walk down the stairs, I heard my dad saying "I don't know, I just don't know what to do!"

My mom seemed to be crying.

I did something I should never have done but I don't regret it. I eavesdropped.

My dad was telling Mom that all the years of going out to sell door to door were beginning to affect him a lot. His feet hurt too much and he couldn't stand the pain. Then my mom said the same thing about her back. She said sometimes the pain was so unbearable she would cry while working, always trying to make sure the supervisor wouldn't catch her crying.

"I guess our dreams won't come true, mi vida", he said to Mom.

"I feel bad for Violett," Mom said. "She deserves a lot better than this. And I so wanted her to go to a good college, but the way this is going, that's never going to happen. You saw the sacrifices we had to make just to buy her a little Christmas present last year!"

After a long pause, my dad said, "I wish I could get another job, a better one, but they always ask for so much stuff and I barely finished High School!"

"We'll be all right," Mom said. "In the end, we're going to be all right."

They hugged and it broke my heart to realize that I really have the best parents in the world.

They met when my dad was working as a mechanic and my mom at the sweatshop. They were very young, in their early 20's. They got married, had me, and decided not to have any more kids, mostly because they couldn't afford it.

But it's the 70's now and things are very tough even for a small family of three. And you know what? When I heard them talking, and saw Mom crying, and saw them hugging like that, I felt so bad. All they want is for me to have what they never had and that's why they are killing themselves trying to make me happy.

I decided at that moment that I was going to do something for them.

I racked my brains trying to figure out how to help them. After all, they deserve it, they've been nothing but supportive of me, they've always been there for me and it is about time that I did something for them. But what? How?

The next day, Monday, I went to school as usual and it was a normal school day until lunch time came.

I went to sit at my usual spot, when I saw my best friend, Abbed, come in. I know that "Abbed" looks like a funny way to spell that name, but his parents committed a spelling mistake when they registered his birth and the spelling stuck.

Abbed sat down and we started talking. I told him what I wanted to do and he said, "How are you going to do it?"

"I don't know," I replied. "Got any ideas?"

"Mmm. Let me think.... You could work at McDonald's"

"But then I'd have to stop going to school. Besides, they wouldn't hire me. I'm only 16."

Then a bright light bulb lit up in my head.

"That's it! I can go to work at Burger King"

"There is no Burger King near your house."

"No, but there is one in Rosemead."

"Rosemead! That's miles away!"

"Exactly. My parents NEVER go to Rosemead. I don't think they even know it exists!"

He thought for a minute, then said, "What about your age?"

"I can lie about that."

"Yeah, but what if they ask you for an ID?"

"I can ask Vicky to lend me hers."

"Who is Vicky?"

"She's the daughter of a lady who lives across the street from our building. She's really sweet. I think I can trust her."

"I don't like it," said Abbed. "What if you get caught? And wait a minute, how are you going to handle school? Your parents will notice that you're not going anymore."

"I've thought of that. I will go to EVANS."

"EVANS? But that's for adults... Oh, I see. You will lie there too! But classes there begin at 6 and end at 9. How are you going to explain coming home so late?"

"Community group, youth group, church group. You know I'm very active."

It was a perfect plan.

That same day after school I went to talk to Vicky. She was nervous about the whole idea, but she agreed to lend me her ID. At that moment, Violett Salcedo became Vicky Fuentes!

Gotta go now. Will tell you the rest tomorrow.

Violett/Vicky"