Page 71 of Pride High 3: Yellow

“Just be aware of traffic,” Sharice warned, like a true mother. “There are some crazy drivers out there. I’d hate if anything happened to you.”

The feeling was mutual. Keisha’s family were such kind people. She could only imagine what would happen if they got in trouble for hiring someone who was undocumented. What if they went to jail? Or decided to no longer hold charitable events in case it put them under further scrutiny. All because Silvia didn’t want to move to another state. “My dad can’t come work for you,” she blurted out.

Sharice looked surprised when accepting the stack of plates Silvia was holding. “Oh? Did he find work somewhere else?”

“No.” Silvia was unwilling to lie, but also reluctant to speak the truth.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Sharice said after they worked in silence for a moment, “is it because of his situation?”

“What situation?” Silvia snapped, sounding more defensive than she had intended.

“I honestly don’t know.” Mrs. Hart turned toward her and rested her hip against the counter. “But if there is anything you’d like to tell me, you can do so in confidence.”

Silvia stared into brown eyes that were every bit as sincere as her daughter’s. Not that a character witness was needed. Silvia had been on the receiving end of the Hart family’s kindness as a child and had worked alongside them as they helped others. Mistrusting them would be like watching Jesus wash the feet of lepers and concluding that he was a shifty shoe salesman.

Silvia took a deep breath. “What would happen if someone was working on your farm who didn’t have a green card? And the authorities found out.”

Sharice actually seemed to relax instead of tensing up. “We have a fantastic lawyer,” she said casually while accepting more dishes. “At worst, we might get slapped with a fine, since it would be a first-time offense. And considering how many undocumented workers we’ve had help us over the years, I’m not terribly concerned. But please know that we aren’t predatory. We don’t take the risk in exchange for cheap labor without benefits. Any such person would be paid the same as an American citizen. We prefer to treat employees as our fellow human beings, and not like a passport that needs to be stamped. So if that’s your only concern…”

The breath was thin in Silvia’s lungs. “I would hate if anything happened to your family. Because of us.”

“And I would hate if anything happened to yours, because we were only thinking of ourselves.”

Silvia wanted to hug her, right then and there. And she might have if Keisha hadn’t walked into the room.

“Mom!” her friend chastised. “You aren’t really making her work, are you?”

“She volunteered,” Sharice said, stepping aside and gesturing at the bowls Silvia held. “And you’ve just been enlisted.”

Keisha groaned, but her eyes were twinkling when she took the bowls from Silvia. Together they filled up the cabinet again, but that was the extent of it.

“Now get out of here,” Sharice said, shooing them away. “I have important thinking to do.”

“Thank you,” Silvia said before she went. Which must have sounded random out of context, but Mrs. Hart seemed to understand.

They left the house and walked down a dirt road between rows of crops, Silvia lost in thought. This could work! The Harts were willing to take the risk and had done so before—and might be doing so even now, with other people. Her father would be safe here. And treated better than he had been at his previous job.

“I’m not going to lie,” Keisha said, breaking the silence. “I stopped outside the hall on my way back to the kitchen and listened.”

“What?” Silvia cried in shock. “Why?”

“Because I like you. In every sense of the word. So I was curious to hear how you got along with my mom, and the sort of things you would talk about with her. I was hoping it would be me, to be honest. A girl can dream, can’t she?”

Silvia remained tense. “How much did you hear?”

“Only enough to confirm my suspicions. I already assumed that your father was undocumented. Especially when he didn’t want to file for worker’s comp. Don’t be mad! We’re all of a like mind in this family. You’re in safe hands.”

Silvia’s first instinct was to lie or muddy the waters, since that’s what she had done for most of her life. Until recently. She’d taken more risks than usual. First with Omar, and again with Diego and Ricky when they helped her father, even though they hadn’t known the full truth. But like Keisha, they might suspect it now. The only difference is she wasn’t sure if they could be trusted. She no longer had those doubts about her new friend.

“It would fix everything,” Silvia managed to croak before speaking became too difficult. Her chest heaved as she gulped down air and fought against the urge to cry. Out of relief mostly.

“Then it sounds like we have reason to celebrate,” Keisha said, grabbing her hand. “If we run, we’ll be at the stable in less than five minutes.”

Silvia grinned before she took off in a sprint, still hand-in-hand with Keisha, who had no trouble keeping up with her. By the time the stable came into view, it felt as though her problems had been left somewhere in the dust behind them.

CHAPTER 12

March 10th, 1993