Lopez arrived home exhausted, anger and humiliation still burning in her chest.
Her fists clenched at her sides as she replayed everything that had happened at the store.
Twenty dollars. After four days of work. And then they had the audacity to accuse her. She swallowed hard.
“Today has been a disaster.” She muttered to herself.
This is the first time in her entire life something like this has happened. Hiding behind that rich man. She is now scared of the consequences. “He can arrest me.”
As soon as Lopez stepped inside, shouting hit her ears. Samantha stood in front of their father, furious.
James sat slouched in his chair, reeking of alcohol.
“If you cannot pay my tuition, why did you even promise me?” Samantha snapped.
James said nothing, he only drank.
Lopez shut her eyes briefly. “Not again.”
She could feel the tension in the room and if she wasn't already tired from her encounter earlier, she would have turned back and not returned until later.
“If you can’t pay my tuition, who will? Tell me” her sister screams.
Lopez initially intended not to interfere but her sister’s screams were about to deafen her. “Can you stop screaming, please?” Lopez pleaded.
“Don’t tell me to stop, tell him to have a life” Samantha continues. “All he does all day is drink, drink and drink… and then come back home and yell.” She kept pointing her fingers at him. “Tell him to get a life.”
Irritated by her choice of words, Lopez rebukes Samantha. “Do you realize you are talking to Dad, our father?” Lopez said firmly. “You can’t use such words on him”
“You can’t tell me what I shouldn't do as a daughter if he doesn’t know what to do as a father,” Samantha yells.
“Did you hear that?” James spoke for the first time since Lopez came in.
“Yes, I did, but please…” Lopez was interrupted by his prolonged belch. She was instantly irritated. She looked down on him with contempt.
“What are you looking at? Look into the mirror instead. Another failure in the making?” he spat out, his words laced with disdain.
It was a familiar refrain, but today, Lopez was in no mood to absorb the verbal blows silently.
“I've had enough, Dad,” she retorted, her voice firm despite the quiver beneath the surface. “You have no idea what I have been through today.”
“Don't bring your drama into this house,” he barked back, his frustration finding a new target. “You work all day and still come home empty handed. Tell me, what exactly are you useful for?” You're just like your useless mother, doing nothing, yet complaining about everything.”
“Dad! Mom is sick. It is unfair to call her useless. You don’t expect her to do something when she can hardly get out of that bed.” Lopez cried out.
“Then I must assume you are sick too since sickness makes people useless.” James retorted, belching again.
Lopez felt a surge of anger and hurt, but she bit her tongue, not wanting to escalate the situation further. Her sister didn’t let it pass.
“If you call her or mom useless, I wonder how you will describe yourself. At least one of them try to put food on the table and you have the audacity to steal from her”
Lopez was shocked by the allegations. “ Wait, what are you talking about?” she inquired impatiently as if she already knew what happened but was waiting for her sister to confirm her suspicion.
Samantha’s eyes burned with anger.
“He stole it.” Samantha spat out
“Stole what?”
“The money.”
Her stomach dropped.
Samantha’s voice cracked. “The money you kept for mom’s medication. Dad took all of it.”
Lopez stopped breathing for a second. She didn't know what started the argument. She was already used to that pattern which was why she didn't care to ask. “Dad, you did that? You knew what the money was meant for. Do you even know how hard I worked to get that?”
Before Lopez could speak, a sharp cry cut through the room.
“Ah!”
All three of them froze. Lucy clutched her chest, struggling to breathe.
“Mom!”
Lopez rushed to her. Samantha dropped to her knees beside her.
The alcohol effect on James suddenly subsided. “Honey, he called out, trying to help but the children paid no attention to him. His attempts to help were met with stern glares from his daughters.
Panic exploded inside the room.
Hours later, their mom was stable, she held their hands as she whispered, her voice weak.
“Stop fighting your dad”
Lopez scoffed, “That is the first thing you have to say? He stole the money for your medication, Mom.”
“I know but don’t worry, you will get another one and I will buy the medication then.” her mother responded slowly.
“Where will I get the money from? I no longer have a job.” Lopez retorted.
“What? What happened to your job?” Samantha asked, concerned.
“I quit!” Samantha didn't let her finish, she flared up immediately. “You quit?
Lopez nodded weakly.
“How can you when you don’t even have another job? How can you do that to me?”
Samantha looked frustrated and scared. “But… what do we do now?”
Her questions were rhetoric. She didn't allow Lopez to say anything. She walked away angrily and slammed the door behind her.
Lopez looked at her mother. She could see the pain and concern in her eyes. She squeezed Lucy’s hand and managed a faint smile to ease the tension. “I will get your medication as soon as I can.”
“I do not like being sick. Your dad thinks I am useless because of my condition. I want to get better.” Lucy lamented, crying.
“Mom, it’s okay,” Lopez said as she wiped her tears. “Whatever it takes, you are going to be fine once again. I promise you, I will get a donor and the payment.”
“But you do not have a job.” Lucy continued “You need to have a job to do that, don't you?
“I will get a job tomorrow, Mom. Don’t stress about it” Lopez assured her mother even though she had to knock on the door of every company in Berlin. She would find a job.
She had to.