Re: Kit/Mari/Dinah/Cris: the convenience store
The counter pressed into her stomach. This made her think of her Mami, of those years before puberty when her mami had told her repeatedly to stand up straight, and then she did not understand why. She had been a slow bloomer- she believed this was the phrase used in this country. In her country, they said she was not despierta- that she was not awake. But she did not care now; she made an effort not to care about the things women were meant or not meant to do. This was all to say that she smiled as she leaned over this counter, and she did not guiltily move away when the door opened again. But even this leaning, it was not feminine. She walked straight, hips forward, and without a sway to her body. She leaned in the same way a man might, and perhaps this was still blindness on her part. But she did not move immediately, and she did not think anything of this.
It was the food that caused her to move.
She hopped back as Cris was suggesting they assemble the clock outside, and she was opening the Tupperware as Kit agreed. She popped open the containers, and she plucked out a maduro with her fingers and popped it past her lips. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy this small taste of home, and then she looked around for a fork, intending to stab a piece of ropa vieja. "Dinah, outside está bien contigo?" she asked; it was very easy to slip into Spanglish when there were English and Spanish speakers gathered around her. "Papi, this is good," she said of the maduro, returning to the subject of the clock without segue: "I think outside is a good idea. We do not know what the clock will do, if anything, but I am not worried." She glanced back at Dinah and gave her a nod. "Verdad? We are not worried." She meant this herself, but she suspected Dinah would require reassurance.