Free Consumption by Heather Herrman

7
    1
    Even before the sun rose, one could tell simply by the air that Festival Day 2009 in Cavus was going to be a beauty. Javier Martinez woke that June morning while it was still dark. He was in a fine mood.
    He was off work from the factory today and only had his paper route, and then nothing but time on his hands. He’d be able to finally spend some of his hard-earned money on his mom and sister. He’d make his pops proud, he knew. Even back in Oaxaca, when they’d been saving up for the move, scrimping to get the family to the States, Javier’s dad made a point of treating the women once a week to some small gift. A mango on a stick from the market for his mother, a dulce de leche sucker for Gabriela.
    Now his dad wasn’t here, but Javier was gonna do the treating. Finally. He’d worked his ass off to get to the point where he could. He might even get a little something for himself, a funnel cake, maybe—but what he was really hoping was that he’d see the girl from his dream last night.
    Mabel. He knew her name because he once heard one of her friends say it to her as they walked by him in their tightly knit group. She was something truly special, with her red curls and pretty, freckled skin. She was beautiful, but Javier had an idea that she didn’t know it. From what he could tell, Mabel seemed a shy girl, always walking with her head down and never speaking loud enough for him to hear what she was saying in return to her friends. But he knew she was gorgeous, and he’d had one heck of a dream featuring the redhead last night. The aftereffects of it still buzzed around his head like a caffeine high.
    “Morning,
reinita,
” he whispered to Gabby, who was pretending to be still asleep in her crib. The crib was a piece of junk, an old wooden heap his mom had gotten from Goodwill and painted white, but Gabby looked pretty as a picture in it. Gabby slept in the front porch just off Javier’s mom’s room. Javier slept on the ratty brown couch in the hallway. He could have shared the room with his mother, but it just didn’t seem right.
    “Havee!” Gabby popped up from the crib, toddling to stand on her chubby legs. “Havee!” Her voice grew louder, threatening to wake their mother. “Up! Up!” she demanded, holding her hands out for him to pick her up.
    “Shh! Quiet, Gabby. Back to sleep!” he whispered.
    “Up! Up!” She was giggling now. It was a great game to her.
    Javier bent and picked her up, dragging the graying yellow sheet with pink flowers up with her. He jiggled her on his hip, pretending anger. “I’m going to be late,
corazoncita,
and it’s all your fault.” He shook his finger at her. “Naughty girl, Gabby! You’re a very naughty
niña.
” Then he pressed his face into her neck and gave her a raspberry, sending her into squeals of laughter.
    Javier put her down with promises of the Festival, but only if she was good and went back to sleep. Though he always pretended she was making him late, Javier had started waking up fifteen minutes early just to make sure he didn’t miss out on their ritual. It was, truth be told, the highlight of his day.
    In the next room, Javier heard a sheet rustle, and he knew his mother would be up within the half hour to start her sewing. He always tried to convince her to sleep in, but his moms was his moms, and she didn’t know how to not be busy. He thought the business might help her in forgetting about his dad, so Javier didn’t press her too much. Gently, Javier closed the door behind him and stepped out into the still-cool air of predawn Cavus.
    “Javier.”
    He jumped, spinning to find the voice. “Rosie!”
    A woman, short with curly gray hair and a face like a dried apple, stood inches from him, her chin tipped to stare into his eyes.
“Buenas noches,”
she said, beaming.
    “
Buenas noche
s
,
Rosie,” Javier said, not bothering to correct her. Rosie Yubanks was their landlord, a perfectly decent woman, if a little nosy. But she’d