ANE To Catch a ream D SCHRA “You see this photograph of a ...ou land a job yet, muchacho?” Sal...

ANNE SCHRAFF

A N N E S C H R A F F

“You see this photograph of a pyramid, mi hijo?”he asked. “Do you see how little room there is atthe top? This is where the smart and rich are. Nowlook at the great space at the bottom. That is forthe rest of us.”

ISBN-13: 978-1-61651-269-9ISBN-10: 1-61651-269-5

A N N E S C H R A F F

To Catch a Dream

To Catch

aDream

Dad was always depressing Abel with his pyramid

stories. He was always dooming Abel to a life at the

bottom of the pyramid with all the other miserable

losers. No matter how much Abel struggled and

clawed, he’d never get to the pinnacle of the

pyramid. And his mom was absolutely sure of

Abel’s incompetence at whatever he tried.

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C h a p t e r O n e

You land a job yet, muchacho?” Sal Ruizasked his son, Abel. Abel Ruiz was a sixteen-year-old junior at Cesar ChavezHigh School, and he’d been searching forpart-time work for more than a month.Every afternoon after classes, he walkedaround the barrio looking for “HelpWanted” signs. Nobody seemed to be hiring.

“Not yet, Dad,” Abel answered wearily,dropping his books on the kitchen table andunburdening himself of his backpack. Helet the backpack drop to the floor with athud.

“How come?” his dad asked. Sal Ruizdid hard, backbreaking work for a garden-ing company owned by his wife’s cousin.

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He dug planting holes for trees and trimmedshrubs. He carried cement for making patiosand built block walls. Nothing was too hardfor him to handle. He began working whenhe was thirteen, and he was almost forty.The work had grown harder, but his bodyhad grown weaker.

“I don’t know, Dad,” Abel responded.“I’ve been to lots of places, but they don’tneed anybody.”

“Maybe you’re too particular,muchacho,” Dad suggested.

The family consisted of Abel, his olderbrother, Tomás, and thirteen-year-oldPenelope, whom everybody called “Penny.”Liza Ruiz, Abel’s mother, didn’t workoutside the home. But she made beautifulscarves and sold them through high-endboutiques, making good money. But thefamily had a big mortgage on the houseand college expenses for Tomás. Theyneeded all the money everybody couldbring in. Tomás was the shining light of thefamily, having earned straight As at Chavez

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TO CATCH A DREAM


High and now studying engineering atUCLA. Abel was clinging to a B minus atChavez.

“I’d do any kind of work as long as it’slegal,” Abel told his dad. He was a skinnykid with a bad complexion. He had just onegood friend at school, Ernesto Sandoval,who had just moved into town from LA.Ernesto was a great friend, probably thebest friend Abel ever had. He was theson of the school’s history teacher, LuisSandoval.

“Have you tried the donut shop?” LizaRuiz asked, coming into the kitchen withone of her scarves in her hands. “That oneon Tremayne is always hiring.”

Liza Ruiz was smarter than her hus-band, and she knew it. She wasn’t a cruelperson, but she demeaned her husbandsometimes. He had dropped out of highschool before he graduated, and he’d neverhad a really good job. He was a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, as the sayingwent. If Liza’s cousin had not given him a

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CHAPTER ONE


job with his landscaping firm, the familywould be in dire straits.

“No, I didn’t try there,” Abel admitted.He glanced at his mother. She was smalland trim, younger looking than a mother ofthree.

Abel believed that his mother thoughther smart son, Tomás, took after her, andAbel was more like his father. When Lizawas in school, she was an excellent studentand very popular with the boys because ofher beauty. Tomás was bright and hand-some, and he always had plenty of friendstoo. Like his father, Abel was plain lookingand not very smart, and he didn’thave many friends. He counted himself really lucky when Ernesto Sandovalbecame his friend because a lot of kidsliked Ernesto.

Once, when Abel’s mother was in a verybitter mood, she said to him, “God took pityon me and sent me a son who shines like thestars before sending me my second son.”She didn’t even know Abel heard that

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comment. She hadn’t meant to hurt him,but he did hear it and it stung. The remarkremained in his heart like a scar all theseyears.

Sal Ruiz did not expect much of Abeleither, because he expected little of him-self. He only wanted Abel to be willing towork and not to be lazy. Mr. Ruiz did notthink Abel would amount to much, just ashe had never amounted to much. But ifAbel worked hard, as his father did, andwas honest, he could make his way in theworld. A man could not expect more thanthat. Mr. Ruiz was at peace with the waythe world was set up. When Abel wasabout ten, he explained his view of life tothe boy.

“You see this photograph of a pyramid,mi hijo?” he asked. “Do you see how littleroom there is at the top? This is where thesmart and rich are. Now look at the greatspace at the bottom. That is for the rest ofus. There are many more of us than there areof them. But that’s all right. We survive.”

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CHAPTER ONE


At times, Abel was not satisfied with theimage of the pyramid and what it signified.He wanted more. He was willing to strugglefor more. Even at school he studied muchharder than most kids. His teachers calledhim an overachiever.

And now Abel really wanted a job. Hisfriend, Ernesto, worked at the pizzeria, and hesaved enough money to buy a car. It was aused car. Worse, it was a horrible Volvo onceowned by an old lady, who was now in a nurs-ing home. But at least Ernesto had wheels.Abel wanted a car too, even if it was an oldjunker. Mom managed the finances in theRuiz house, and she was very frugal. Sheinsisted that Dad hand over his paycheckevery two weeks, and she paid the mortgageand the utilities. She gave Dad a little spend-ing money, just as she gave Abel money forlunches and maybe a pair of socks. No waywould she give Abel money for a car.

Ernesto had a beautiful girlfriend,Naomi Martinez, and they’d go driving inthe Volvo. Ernesto took Naomi to the

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TO CATCH A DREAM


movies and to concerts. Abel didn’t have agirlfriend, but he hoped to have one eventu-ally. Abel thought that, if he found a girlwho was hard up enough to go out with him,he couldn’t expect her to ride the bus to themovies with him. He’d have to provide herwith a ride. Abel was straining at the bit. Heneeded money. He needed freedom. He hadto get a job.

After school on Tuesday. Abel walkeddown Tremayne to the donut shop. It was asmall place with four tables. Most of itscustomers bought donuts and other bakedgoods to go.

When Abel entered the shop, he wasstruck by the wonderful smells. The displaycase contained all kinds of donuts, applefritters, and bear claws. The owner of theplace, Elena Suarez, about forty, was aplump, pretty woman who wore too muchmakeup. She looked like she sampled a lotof her own merchandise.

“Hi, what can I do for you?” she askedAbel, thinking he was a customer.

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Abel was so used to going into a place,asking for a job, and then being turneddown, that he had little hope here. And hisfeelings showed. He felt like saying, “Iwant a job, but you probably don’t want tohire me. So I’ll just be on my way.” He didn’t say that, though. He forced him-self to smile and speak up. “I’m Abel Ruiz,a junior at Cesar Chavez High School, andI’m looking for a part-time job after school.I got some references from teachers andstuff.”

“Yeah?” Elena responded. “Well, go sitat one of the tables and fill out this applica-tion. I’ll be over to look at it and interviewyou. I need some help here.”

Abel’s heart leaped. He had never gottenthis far. He never even got an applicationto fill out. At the hamburger joint and the tacostand, they just said they didn’t need anybody.

Abel sat down and began filling out theapplication. Under “References,” he putdown the name of Luis Sandoval, his historyteacher. He included two other teachers who

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TO CATCH A DREAM


seemed to like him too. He put down thename of the old lady at the end of the street.A couple times he mowed her lawn. Shecalled him a “nice muchacho” when she paidhim. Finally, he listed a man on the streetwho once paid him to help move a piano.After that, the guy always waved to Abel.

Elena Suarez noticed Abel was finishedwith the application. She came over and satopposite him at the table. She glanced at theapplication and commented, “Looks good.Lot of nice references. Well, we need some-body for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,in the afternoon. I have two employeesnow, but they can’t work some days. I’dneed you between four and seven. Wouldthat work for you?”

“Oh yeah,” Abel replied, happiness rising in him like a great tide. He couldn’tbelieve he was actually going to get a job.“Yeah, that’d be great, Mrs.—”

“Elena. Everybody calls me Elena,” thewoman answered. “So, Abel, I’ll see you atfour tomorrow, okay?”

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“You bet. I’ll be here,” Abel affirmed.He didn’t ask about the salary. He justwanted a job. He thought he’d grab the jobeven if the pay was just a few dollars anhour.

“Oh, it’s minimum wage, Abel,” Elenawent on. “But we got a tip jar, and peopleare pretty generous. I always split the tipsevenly among the kids working on the shift.You might end up with five extra dollarsevery day you work.” She smiled at Abel.Elena had dyed carroty red hair and a badperm. But at that moment she was the mostbeautiful creature on earth. She had givenAbel a job.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” Abelbabbled on his way out. The minute he wasout of the donut shop, Abel texted his friendErnesto. “Got the job! Got the job!” Abeldidn’t have any other friends close enoughto care about what was going on in his life.But he’d told Ernesto he was going for thedonut shop job. Ernesto had told him abouthis job at the pizza shop. They were friends.

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ANE To Catch a ream D SCHRA “You see this photograph of a ...ou land a job yet, muchacho?” Sal...

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