Lead With Your Heart

Amigas

That evening, Javier and Maritza stay over at Abuela and Abuelo’s apartment in Columbia Heights, just blocks from where Violeta now lives. Abuela hums “Gracias a la Vida,” her favorite song, while she cooks. Maritza settles at the kitchen table with her purple journal.

Tía Mari, Dad’s older sister, was a nurse in Los Angeles who died of cancer about a year ago. During the pandemic, she and Maritza video-called every Sunday, trading stories about Tía Mari’s cat, Canela, who loves to eat ants, and about Maritza’s soccer socks and schoolwork. She fought to save lives every day, and spoke out for causes she cared about. She believed everyone’s voice is important and that people need to speak up for those who can’t. Maritza believes that, too.

Before she passed, Tía Mari mailed Maritza the journal, filled with quotes from famous women athletes and leaders, along with a note urging her to add more of her own. A positive attitude, the note said, matters most when life gets hard. Maritza still writes in it whenever she needs comfort.

That night, Maritza writes, “If you were here, Tía Mari, I would tell you about my friend Violeta.” She wants to tell Violeta she knows about her uncle’s detention, but worries the topic is too sensitive to bring up at school. She sets the pen down, the entry suddenly too hard to finish.

Abuela notices how quiet Maritza has gone and pulls a tray of salteñas, spicy Bolivian meat pies, from the oven. She asks if Maritza is still writing to Tía Mari, and Maritza nods, admitting how much she misses her. Javier says he misses her, too.

Abuelo asks what Maritza did with her race winnings. She admits she donated all of it to the family on the jar. Abuela knows the man is Andrés, an essential worker who cooked at the hospital through the pandemic while working toward his citizenship. He’s the father of two daughters born in the United States, and the community adores him. Abuela can’t get over the injustice of it and says they need to pray for him. Abuelo, pouring his own coffee, grunts that prayers won’t be enough.

The next day, Abuela takes Javier and Maritza to the Riverfront Community Center in Anacostia, a lively spot with a soccer field, a study lounge, and a knitted textile exhibit by a Bolivian artist. Abuela’s side is Bolivian, and she helps organize local events to celebrate Bolivian culture. So Maritza feels especially proud when she sees the textile exhibit. The pieces raise money for the local food pantry.

While at the community center, Maritza spots her friends Makena and Evette, dressed in platform sequin shoes, photographing a finger-puppet display called “Tu Lucha Es Mi Lucha” for their World by Us website. The display is part of a project that began as a river-cleanup fundraiser with the tire planters. The three catch up, then head outside, where Maritza shows off a soccer trick, popping the ball up with her feet and knees. Makena films it. But the ball gets away from them, sending the three into a laughing heap on the grass, joking about starting a new trend, Silly Soccer.