The Latin Deli by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Author:Judith Ortiz Cofer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8203-4271-9
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

III

Corazón wished she could move everything out of the store that night. She did not think she could stay in this place without Manuel. When Tito, the super, Doña Iris, Elenita from El Building, Joe Méndez, the lawyer, and old Don Cándido came by for their cup of coffee and their groceries, they would find the place as empty as the day she and Manuel had stepped in and Manuel had turned and hugged her. It had been just what he wanted: a blank canvas on which to create his dream of a store where both the body and the spirit could be nourished. Had that been ten years ago already?

It was nearly midnight. Corazón sat on her high stool behind the counter with only the security lights on. She allowed the tears to come. She felt so alone without the man she had loved and worked with for one brief decade. She should have made Manuel take better care of himself. After Doña Serena’s funeral, she had made Manuel go to the doctor for a complete physical examination. Her worst fears had been confirmed. Like his mother, he suffered from a congenital heart defect: one of the valves was too small, it constricted the flow of blood during times of anxiety or stress. Surgery was advised but at very high risk. And of course, being young and full of energy at that time, Manuel had chosen to wait; there was always a reason: money, the right time—after they had saved enough to come to America, after they bought the store. It was as if he didn’t want to know that his heart was failing him. Then two days ago, the sudden, swift coronary after unloading a truck with Inocencia. Corazón had watched the two men working like brothers, in silent camaraderie, as they always did, in perfect unison—Inocencia inside the truck, handing down boxes to Manuel, who stacked them in the back room of the store. Corazon had noticed the paleness of Manuel’s skin and the heavy perspiration, though it was a cold day. But she had been busy waiting on customers in front. When she heard the truck drive away with Inocencia at the wheel—on its way back to Miami to pick up fresh produce from the Island—Corazon had gone to find Manuel and insist that he take a break. But he had already collapsed, as quietly as had his mother all those years before. Corazón knew CPR and worked feverishly to bring him back, shouting all the while for an ambulance. There was one customer in the store—the old man, who spoke no English but who managed to dial the number written on the bulletin board behind the counter. The ambulance arrived and took her and Manuel to an emergency room, where he was declared dead on arrival.

Inocencia would have to be told about Manuel’s death. She had to be there when he arrived in the morning. More than anything else, except perhaps the wake scheduled at

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