A Good Dude (36 page)

Candace called Tino back and told him everything was fine. She told him Rilla was still in jail, and she would know about it if he got out. Tino was happy to hear that, but he still sounded rattled.

Candace called her mother back after that, hoping to hear the story about her real dad. But Gerald was in the room with her then, and Katherine wouldn’t dare discuss such things in front of him. Instead she told Candace about the time Gerald abandoned his family on Christmas to be with Katherine and her parents. That turned out to be a pretty good story, too.

Candace told her mother about the ongoing struggle to convince Tino to go to school in New York with her in the fall. He was close to his family and thought the move would be stressful for his mom. Katherine gave her daughter a few helpful tips in the fine art of persuasion, and Candace promised to put them to use in the near future.

A SPECIAL GIFT

Two weeks passed with no further news about Rilla, and Candace was happy to let him take his place as the last thing on her mind again.

* * *

On December 24, Tino showed up at Candace’s apartment at 8:00 p.m. She thought it was a bit late for a family gathering, but he assured her the festivities would still be underway late into the evening.

Tino wore blue jeans with a red and white Christmas sweater so tacky it had to have come from one of his relatives. He wore his black leather jacket and topped the outfit off with an adorable Santa hat. He was clean-shaven and his hair was tied back with a scrunchy. Even with the hideous sweater Tino was as cute as a button, and he was a gift-bearer on this hallowed evening.

“Hey, sexy,” Candace said and stepped aside to let him in. For her night with his family, she wore tan corduroy pants and a white blouse with a red v-neck sweater over it. Her sandals were black with a silver buckle across the toes. She wore her hair in a flip as usual, with auburn highlights she got at the salon just yesterday.

“You look great!” Tino said. He reached into the bag he toted and came out with another Santa hat just like his. “This is going to match your outfit!”

Candace took the cap and closed the door behind him. “I got my hair done, Tino. I don’t want to wear a hat.”

“C’mon,” he said. “We’ll look like twins!”

“All right. I’ll wear it so we’ll look like a
couple
.” Tino set his bag down and wrapped his arms around her. “I got you a present,” he said.

“It’s not the hat, is it?”

“No, it’s in the bag. I got something for Leila, too.”

“Can I open it?” Candace asked.

“No! You’ll ruin the
mystique
. You have to wait till Christmas. Or at least till we get back from my grandma’s house. It’ll be after midnight then.”

“Okay,” she said. “I got you something, too.”

“Really?”

“Don’t act surprised.”

“What is it?”

“It’s an ant farm.”

Tino knitted his eyebrows. “An ant farm? Why would you get me that?”

“I don’t know. It was hard to shop for you. I was walking around the store, and I saw these ant farms, and I thought to myself, ‘Tino likes biology!’ I knew it would be the perfect gift.”

“It’s too cold,” he said. “I can’t get any ants cause they’re all hibernating.”

“Yes, you can,” Candace assured him. “You just have to dig really deep.”

He smiled. “Okay. I’m gonna get me some ants then.” Candace shook her head. “Boy, I didn’t get you an ant farm.”

“Then why’d you say that?”

“Why’d you ask what I got you? You should have known I wasn’t going to tell you. And, come on, Tino. You were going to dig for ants in forty-degree weather?”

“I would have,” he said. “If that’s what you got me, and that’s what you wanted me to do. I would do it.”

“That’s sweet. You’d rather dig for ants than tell me I got you a stupid present.”

She kissed him provocatively and went to fetch the baby from her crib. Leila was already dressed in the cutest elf suit Candace had ever seen. It was red and green and had tiny shoes with points on the toes. Leila didn’t care much for being awakened, but Candace transferred her directly to the car seat, so there wasn’t time to put up much of a fuss.

She was asleep again before they got on the freeway. “Where’d you get that sweater?” Candace asked shortly into the drive.

Tino rolled his eyes. “My grandmother gave it to me. It’s not that ugly, is it?”

“I’m not saying anything bad about your grandmother’s sweater.”

“Man, I knew it. I’m wearing it tonight so I don’t have to wear it on Christmas. If she doesn’t see me in it at least once, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“It’s fine,” Candace said. “It’s kinda . . . . sort of . . . . cute, in its own special way.”

“All right,” Tino said. “I’m going to wear it when we go out on New Year’s.”

“You’d better not.”

* * *

Tino’s grandmother lived on the north side of town. Candace thought the whole area was beautiful like the stockyards, but there was a clear divide.

On one side you had Billy Bob’s and the rodeo, with all the glitz and glamour, singing and dancing. On the other side of the tracks, you had the
regular
neighborhood, and much of it was poor, gang-ridden, and tagged with graffiti. There were unkempt parks, liquor stores by the dozen, and sprawling apartment complexes long ago abandoned.

Tino’s grandmother lived in the midst of this decay, but her house was nice. Tino pulled into the driveway of a red brick structure and looked over at his girlfriend with a dopey grin.

“This is where
mi abuelita
lives,” he said.

“She’s done pretty well for herself,” Candace noticed.

“Not like you’re thinking,” he said. “My granddad got run over by an Exxon truck back in ’96. He got squashed like a bug.”

“That’s sad.”

“It’s okay,” Tino said. “The settlement money paid for this house. Plus my grandmother never liked him anyway. She still thinks the whole thing was a blessing.”

Candace didn’t know how to take that bit of news, but Tino was smiling, so she smiled too.

“All right,” she said. “I guess it’s time to meet your crazy relatives.”

But to Candace’s dismay, Tino’s family turned out to be well-behaved. Based on his descriptions, Candace expected Spanish-speaking trailer trash fresh off the
Jerry Springer Show
. Instead she got well-dressed, well-spoken, and obviously cultured Mexican-Americans. They greeted her pleasantly, commenting on how pretty she was and how cute the baby looked in her outfit.

Tino’s mom scooped Leila from the car seat as soon as they entered. She rushed off to show her sisters one of Santa’s littlest helpers. Candace pulled Tino off to the side after they said hello to everyone.

“I thought you said they were drunk and crazy,” she whispered.

“The night’s still young,” he said. “Wait till midnight, and then tell me if they’re crazy or not.”

He took her to the den, where most of the family was gathered around a huge floor-model television.
The Matrix
was on rather than a holiday program or ball-game. Tino’s father was there, as well as a few of his aunts and uncles. There were a lot of wives and girlfriends, too, and most of these women were drop-dead gorgeous.

Tino introduced Candace to everyone individually. Everyone was polite. The whole atmosphere was enjoyable. The house was big and neat and every inch of it smelled like food. Tino found a place for them to sit on the biggest sofa. Candice tried to take her Santa hat off, but Tino took it from her and put it back on.

“How will they know whose girlfriend you are if you don’t have that hat?” he asked.

“I don’t think anyone else has a black girlfriend,” Candace noted.

Tino looked around the room. “You’re right, but that’s only cause they’re not lucky like me.”

They watched a few scenes of
The Matrix
, and Tino’s mother brought Leila back after a while. The baby was awake, and happy, and licking some sticky substance from her lips. Everyone in the den thought she was adorable. They passed her around like a doobie, and Leila loved the spotlight.

“Who is that?” Candace asked, staring across the room. “That’s Hector,” he said. “He just turned twenty. He’s Melissa’s son.”

“Who’s Melissa?” she asked.

“That lady over there,” Tino said and pointed. “She’s my cousin. You just shook her hand, don’t you remember?”

“I’m trying to keep track of all these names,” Candace said. “There’s a lot of people in here.”

And they kept coming. Thirty minutes later, the room was stuffed to capacity. Of the twenty-five or so relatives in the den, half of them were under the age of five, so it was quite noisy. There was more family in the kitchen and living room as well.

“Are all of these people coming back tomorrow for Christmas?” Candace asked Tino.

“Some of them,” he said. “Most of them will go with their in-laws, though. That’s why Christmas Eve is so special. Everybody comes for this.”

Candace nodded and someone handed her baby back to her. But she didn’t get to keep Leila long. Just then Tino’s mom stepped into the doorway with an important announcement.

“Okay ladies, whoever’s going to help with the tamales needs to come in here and wash your hands. Come on, Candace.”

Candace was a little embarrassed by all the attention, but it was good-natured. She handed Leila to her boyfriend.

“I guess you get to watch her.”

“Please,” he said. “These women aren’t going to let me hold her for too long.”

Candace gave Tino a kiss on the cheek and then followed his mom into the kitchen.

* * *

Making tamales turned out to be an interesting experience. Six ladies volunteered for the task, and Candace got to work elbow to elbow with Tino’s grandmother. She was a small woman with gray hair and dark lines on her face. She wore thick glasses and had a quick tongue.

It took two grueling hours to get the first batch of tamales in the pot, but things went a lot more smoothly after that. The women situated themselves in an assembly line format: One lady heated up the meat and soaked the corn husks. Another filled bowls on the kitchen table with chicken, beef, or pork. Candace and two other girls spread masa on the corn husks. They passed them off to Grandma, who did the filling and folding. Tino’s mom stacked the finished product in the pot and took it to the stove.

When Candace got bored with her task, she asked if she could try her hand at folding. The women were in good moods and eager to teach. After a dozen attempts, Candace could fold a tamale better than Don Pablo’s.

At quarter till eleven, the first batch was ready. Candace went to the den to make the announcement and was surprised how quickly the atmosphere changed in there. The television was off and the stereo was bumping. People were dancing and drinking, talking and laughing. Hardly anyone was in their seat anymore.