Mama Had to Work on Christmas by Carolyn Marsden

Author:Carolyn Marsden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: family, christmas, mexico, immigration, hispanic american characters, mom daughter, hispanic family
Publisher: Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc.

Chapter 6

The Back Way

“Where’d that come from?” Carmen asked, stopping her work to glance at Stuffy.

“A girl gave her to me.”

“So that’s why you were gone so long. Don’t go mixing with the guests, or we’ll all be in hot water.”

Gloria sat down in a chair near a small window. Outside, she could see the bright blue ocean, the tops of the feathery palms, and a turquoise swimming pool the color of Sylvie’s eyes. She set Missy aside on the counter and hugged Stuffy tight.

“We’re going to run away,” Gloria whispered into Stuffy’s ear. “We’ll get ourselves adopted by a mother who doesn’t have to work on Christmas. Our new mother will bring us to eat in the dining room, not make us watch from the kitchen.”

She puzzled over the words have-not. Did it mean that she didn’t have something? Didn’t have what? Didn’t have anything? Next to Sylvie, she seemed to have nothing.

The word maid rang out over and over in Gloria’s mind.

A smell of something burning spread throughout the kitchen, and one of the cooks yelled louder than usual.

Ricardo wheeled in a new stack of dirty plates. On the top sat a plate of roast beef and mashed potatoes that someone hadn’t eaten.

“Hungry?” Ricardo held the plate out to Gloria. He smiled, showing a flash of gold tooth. “It’s lunchtime. No one’s touched it. I was watching.”

Gloria longed to turn away and tell him: I want my own plate!

But she let him set the food in front of her. He brought her a clean fork. The roast beef broke easily into bites. The mashed potatoes tasted like a buttery cloud. She gobbled it all down.

When Missy had to go pee, Carmen showed Gloria the kitchen bathroom. It had a plain toilet and sink. “Look, Missy. Ordinary toilet paper. No one folded the end into a triangle for us!” Gloria wanted to leave the bathroom without using it. She felt like slamming the door hard behind her as she left.

***

When the clock on the wall said two o’clock, Mama came into the kitchen, pushing through one side of the double door. “Ai, mijita, you must be hungry.” She pulled Gloria against her with one arm.

But Gloria leaned away from Mama instead of snuggling into her pink uniform that was losing its starch.

“What a cute doggie. Where did you get it?”

Gloria turned away and pressed her face into Stuffy’s dry fur.

“What have you been doing today?” Mama asked, as if nothing were wrong.

Gloria shrugged.

“Ready, Marta?” the cook named Sammy called out. When Mama nodded, Gloria watched Sammy peel paper off a thin hamburger patty and lay the meat on the grill.

“I have good news for you, Gloria,” Mama said, sitting down on a stool next to her. “Regine, my boss, likes the way I keep the bathroom so nice. This morning she said to me, ‘Marta, when they move me up, maybe you can take my job.’”

“So?” said Gloria, kicking the rungs of the stool.

“So I’d get paid a little more.

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