Lead With Your Heart

A Better Life

Sierra can’t hide her hurt. She scowls at Maritza, arms crossed, and admits she was so certain Maritza would show up for her dance performance that she counted on it. Maritza basically missed the whole thing.

Wanting to make it right, Maritza follows Sierra to El Sabor de Honduras, and orders a baleada stuffed with beans, cheese, and cream. Javier comes over and asks where Maritza went. Sierra and he danced La Bamba, and she forgot how to tie the ribbon. Sierra laughs and says she slipped.

La Bamba is known as the wedding dance. The two dancers tie a ribbon with their feet and hold up the ribbon at the end. It was Sierra’s first time, and Maritza missed it.

Sierra asks if Maritza was busy talking to Violeta, and she shrugs. It wasn’t on purpose. Sierra takes a huge bite of the baleada as if to avoid saying something rude.

Raheem swaggers up next, dangling his silver second-place medal. He dares Maritza to a rematch. Sierra comments that Maritza already beat him. Maritza rolls her eyes and gets up to get a bottle of water from the food truck.

Then Maritza spots a plastic jar taped to the counter, a photocopied photo of a mom, dad, and two little girls stuck to its side. One of the girls looks slightly familiar, but Maritza can’t place her. She asks about it, and someone nearby explains that the father was detained by immigration. The family, from El Salvador, has lived in the United States for six or seven years. They need money to pay a lawyer so he isn’t deported.

The whole group quiets. The story tugs at something in Maritza. She unzips her fanny pack, pulls out the winnings from her race, more than thirty dollars, and drops every bill into the jar, far more than anyone else has given.

Sierra watches, and her scowl finally melts. She throws her arms around Maritza in a relieved hug, forgiving her completely for missing the show.

Ready to race a friend again, Maritza glances once more at the taped-on photo. This time she realizes who the smaller girl is. It’s Mia, Violeta’s little cousin. Maritza freezes. Could it be true? Is Violeta’s uncle the one who’s been detained?