Strawberry Yellow (16 page)

“Why do you think we’re next door to each other? Not a coincidence. This was Arai land. Bought when Shug started making some real money.”

Makes sense, Mas thought. The two families were now forever tied together.

“Minnie and Shug, they finally sold it to me in the sixties. Gave me a deal.”

Mas had been wondering about a question from the beginning, but in no way could he ask the Arai family. But here, with an outsider with insider information, Mas found that he had the perfect opportunity. “What happen to the Stem House?”

“Well, if you didn’t figure it out, Shug and Minnie’s son
has an anger problem. Kind of like Shug, only Shug hid it better.”

That was true, thought Mas. Shug’s anger was buried deep, a sleeping dragon underneath the dunes. But if you poked the sand too much, the dragon, its mouth full of fire, would emerge.

“Shug and Billy were always at it. Kind of helped that Shug was doing all that traveling, moving around with his work. But Billy was still under him. One day, they were fighting—actually here, outside the house. My older son heard them. Billy yelling that Shug never let him grow and experiment, and Shug saying that Billy was a disgrace for leaving Sugarberry. I guess this was the time Billy told Shug he was moving on to Everbears. Because of everything that happened during the war, Shug was no fan of Everbears, or more specifically the Gorman family. I know you Japanese, you don’t forget anything.

“So Billy takes off in his truck. Mad as hell, he was. I don’t know where he was going. He didn’t know himself, I think. So he was speeding right there on Beach Street—there was a car at a stop in front of him. He goes into the other lane and he didn’t see it—a farmworker’s kid on a bike with training wheels.”

Mas felt numb. “Nobody say.”

“I’ve never heard Shug or Minnie say anything of it. Billy was not arrested. It was accidental. The family was devastated, of course. The little girl had died by the time she got to the hospital.

“So the Arais decided to give the little girl’s family the Stem House. Not a payoff, mind you. But just, I don’t know,
an apology, a symbol that Billy had done wrong.”

Mas’s head started pounding again, and it had nothing to do with the accident.

“It didn’t end there, however. Through all the publicity, it was found out that the family of the little girl was not only undocumented, but the father was a wanted man. Had gotten in some trouble with the police some years back. So the father was deported back to Mexico and the wife followed.” Miguel traced the margins of his sudoku grid with his pencil. “So the house still stands, the property of this deported Mexican family.”

Is that why Billy had taken Mas on the midnight trip down memory lane? That for at least a few hours, he could recreate what the Stem House had meant to Shug and the rest of the gang?

“But nuttin’ happening to house.”

“Some folks—at least the farmworkers—think that’s the punishment for what Billy did. That it stands there, ruined, so no one will ever forget.”

All this disclosure was obviously taking a toll on Miguel. His speaking became slurred, and his eyes were starting to droop. Mas usually knew when he overstayed his welcome and that was probably a half hour ago.

“Come over again,” Miguel told Mas as he headed for the front door. “It’s always good to talk about old times.”

Victor, the end of his cigarette glowing orange, was on the driveway washing the Impala. Soap suds made the
pavement slippery, and Mas almost lost his footing.

“Hey, be careful,” Victor admonished.

Mas took a few seconds to admire the boy’s handiwork.

“Too bad about your wheels, man,” Victor said. “The brakes just stopped working, huh? I heard that happens with old Ford trucks sometime.”

Mas nodded. That is why he spent extra time checking the brakes before he left for Watsonville.

“You ever need to borrow one of our extra cars, just let us know.”

The boy was obviously not offering his Impala, but the rickety, rusty Toyota and the trailer with two flat tires. It wasn’t much of an offer, but Mas was still touched. He gave Victor a hand with drying the car’s body.

“I’m actually thinking about selling this car.”

“Oh, yah?” Mas was surprised. He knew firsthand how difficult it was to decide to abandon your vehicle for another.

“Thinking about going more professional, you know. Maybe a Lexus. BMW.”

“Bizness must be good.” Mas wrung the excess moisture out of his rag.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good.”

Mas never imagined that spying in farm country could afford a teenager a luxury car. Growing fruits and vegetables had definitely graduated to being a big business.

“Well, see ya.” Before getting into his car, Victor exhaled a trail of smoke. Mas breathed in the nicotine remnants, remembering what it felt like when a young man thought he could conquer the world.

A
fter resting for two days, Mas felt almost good as new. Mari said she was going to buy him a one-way airplane ticket from San Jose to Burbank. “The truck’s gone, Dad,” she said. “Forget about it and come home.”

Mas did want to come home, but something was still nagging at him. Jimi Jabami. Miguel Duran had said that Jimi had a serious beef with the Arai family. Was it serious enough that Jimi would want to hurt Shug, just weeks before the announcement of the new strawberry?

Mas took a walk around the block, passing one-story ranch-style homes. Dogs wailed after him and at one house, he noticed that an inflatable bouncer was being set up in the back, most likely for a child’s birthday later that day. When he arrived back at Minnie’s, another car, a silver Honda, was parked in the driveway.

Mas turned the doorknob of the front door. It was unlocked, and when he entered, he heard voices in the living room.

It was a full house. He saw Alyssa Arai, the San Jose State student, sitting on the floor. Her brother was next to her in a chair. On the couch, Minnie sat next to Billy’s wife, whose white roots showed in her otherwise neatly coifed hair.

Minnie smiled as Mas tentatively entered the living room. “Mas. You all know Mas. Colleen, you remember Mas Arai from Los Angeles, don’t you? He was at the funeral.”

Alyssa immediately lowered her head, so Mas knew she was embarrassed about what had transpired in her dorm. She must not have mentioned anything to the rest of her family.
I almost died because of you
, Mas thought, but whattheheck, he knew from experience that he shouldn’t expect any gratitude from any young person. Her brother, dressed in a baseball uniform, looked up and grinned, while Colleen stayed frozen on the couch, her hands in her lap.

“Hallo,” Mas said.

“Come join us,” Minnie said, gesturing for Mas to sit down in Shug’s old easy chair. “We’re getting ready to go to Zac’s game. He plays baseball for the community college up there in Aptos.”

“Oh yah?” Mas said, sitting down.

“He starts, even though he’s a first year.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Grandma.”

“You hit a double. Even I know that was good. What is your batting average now?”

“320.”

“Your grandfather would have been so proud. He tried to make it to every home game.”

Mas decided to take a chance and throw out a line. “So, you’zu the one who put the bat in Shug’s coffin,” he said to Zac.

Minnie frowned.

“Oh, that old bat from camp, right? I was talking to Aly about it. Like why it was in the coffin? Nobody put that in during the visitation. We thought you put it in there later, Grandma.”

“It wasn’t me. I left a photo and a note. I already told
Mas this.” Her voice carried a hint of annoyance, a tone that everyone could detect.

“Maybe Dad?” Zac offered.

“Dad almost showed up late to the funeral, remember?” Alyssa crossed her arms.

“Maybe one of our aunties.”

“Why would they put a bat in there?” Alyssa’s usually smooth forehead was marred by anger lines. She turned to Mas. “Anyway, why do you care?”

“Alyssa,” Colleen finally spoke, shocking the rest of them. Her voice was raspy but stern. “Don’t be rude.”

“No, I’m just wondering why he’s bringing up the bat, Mom.”

“I’m sorry,” Colleen apologized to Mas.

Tears welled up in Alyssa’s eyes. “I don’t see why everything’s my fault.” She jumped up and ran toward the door.

“Alyssa!”

She was out the door; her mother could not stop her.

“I’ll get her,” said Zac, rising. “Maybe it’s that time of the month or something.”

Minnie pressed down on her slacks. “I think that we have time for some tea. Green tea, Colleen?
Ocha
, Mas?”

Mas shook his head vigorously, not wanting to be alone with Billy’s wife.

“
Ocha
sounds good,” said Colleen.

With Minnie disappearing into the kitchen, it was indeed just Mas with Colleen. They sat in silence for a good three minutes before Colleen began speaking. “The family’s been under so much strain this past year. I’m afraid Billy and I haven’t been very good parents.”

Mas understood. His own parenting skills had been questionable, especially according to his daughter.

“I know what you did for Alyssa. Going to her dorm to warn her about the police coming over.”

“Sheezu tell you?” Mas was surprised.

“She doesn’t know that I know. Alyssa’s ex-boyfriend came by the facility I was staying at and told me everything. Calling Laila was a prank. He eventually went to the police to confess.”

Mas stayed quiet. Hearing “facility” made him feel scared. He knew that the “facility” wasn’t home. Colleen must have been at the end of her rope, and Mas didn’t know how long that rope was now.

“Billy made some mistakes. But I’m learning that I can’t blame it all on him, even though I want to.”

“Oh, well,” Mas said. “Sometime can’t control.”

Colleen then surprised Mas by laughing. For a moment her voice sounded light and free. “You hit the nail on the head,” she said. “Control. That’s the struggle of my whole life.”

The family piled into the silver Honda to go to Zac’s game. Alyssa sat in the back, looking away from Mas.

Before they left, Minnie went up to Mas and gave him the keys to Shug’s Lexus. “Feel free to get yourself some dinner. There’s a nice Japanese restaurant on Beach that everyone goes to,” she said. And then, more quietly, regarding Colleen: “She seems much better, doesn’t she?”

Mas just grunted, because he didn’t know how she was before.

“Even if they do divorce, she’s still the mother of my grandchildren. She always will be.” Minnie spoke definitively, as if she were trying to convince herself.

Mas didn’t need any convincing. The silver Honda, transporting the college baseball star and his fans, went down the block and turned.

As he returned to the house, his stomach started to rumble. Japanese food would be good, he thought.

Mas drove Shug’s Lexus to the Japanese restaurant. Its dashboard reminded him of an airplane pilot’s cockpit with lit-up displays and controls. As he drove, he felt heat on his back. Damn. A warmer for the leather seats. Shug certainly did sit in the lap of luxury.

The Japanese restaurant had a small patch of green beside its parking lot—mostly bamboo and a grizzled pine that apparently had suffered its share of car exhaust. Inside, the small box of a room had mirrors on the walls and a mirrored disco ball hanging from the ceiling.