It was fear that I would discover something more. Teresa lunged at me to take the phone away.
Not with force. With desperation. “Arthur, please, don’t open it.” That hurt me more than the message itself.
Because a wife doesn’t beg like that to protect a son’s privacy. She begs like that when she knows that behind a screen lies a ruin that has already caught up to her. “What are you hiding from me?” I asked. Teresa covered her mouth.
The phone vibrated again. “Mau: Remember, if your boss doesn’t loosen up tomorrow, we’re selling the old man’s computer. He won’t even notice.” I felt my chest tighten. I opened the phone. Daniel used the same password for everything: his mother’s birthday. That was the first slap in the face. The chat with Mau looked like a sewer. Messages about gambling. Money. Threats. Photos of pawn shop tickets. My credit card. Teresa’s credit card. Screenshots of small transfers that, added up, were a massive hole.
“Tell her you’re feeling sick, the bosses cave in fast.” “Cry to her for a while.” “Your dad is a donkey, but your boss gets it.” “Today, get them for the app payment, dude, they’re already coming after me.”
I looked at Teresa. She was crying in silence. “How much?” She didn’t answer. “Teresa, how much money have you given him?” “I don’t know.” “Don’t lie to me.” She sat in the kitchen chair as if her body could no longer support the weight of her shame. “More than fifty thousand.” I froze. Fifty thousand dollars. Fifty thousand that I didn’t see because I trusted that our household was breathing normally. “Where did you get it from?” She closed her eyes. “From my savings. From the savings club. From a loan at the credit union. I pawned my earrings.” I looked at her ears. She wasn’t wearing the gold earrings her mother left her when we married. I hadn’t even noticed. I hated myself in that moment, too. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “Because he swore to me that if you found out, you’d kick him out.” “And he was right.” “He told me he was sick, Arthur. That he couldn’t stop. That he owed money to some guys. That if he didn’t pay, they were going to hurt him.”
I went back to the chat. There were voice notes. I opened one. Daniel’s voice filled the kitchen: “Come on, Mau, my boss is falling for it. I just tell her I’m going to kill myself and she gets all worked up. It makes me laugh, but it works.”
Teresa let out a whimper. I squeezed the phone until my fingers ached. That wasn’t my “lost boy.” That was a man using his mother’s love as an ATM. “Teresa…” She covered her face. “I thought I was saving him.” “No. You were financing him.” She folded over the table. I didn’t have the strength to console her. Not yet.
I kept reading. I discovered that Daniel wasn’t just asking for food and money. He had taken out quick loans using Teresa’s information. He had sent photos of her ID. He had sold my drill, an old flat-screen, the bicycle from when my nephew, Nicholas, used to come stay over. He had promised to take my laptop the next day. And the worst was at the end. “Mau: Tomorrow, come over to the apartment. Bring the lady’s card or don’t bother coming in.” “Mau: And if the old man kicks you out, even better. That way you scare them.” “Mau: Those old folks would rather pay than see you out on the street.”
I sat down. The kitchen smelled of the rice I had thrown away, of spilled soda, of old exhaustion. Outside, an out-of-tune organ grinder was passing through the street, as if Chicago insisted on playing music even when a house was falling down. “We have to go get him,” Teresa said. I looked up. “No.” “Arthur, he’s on the street.” “He’s on the street because I put him there. And for the first time in months, he doesn’t have his mother serving him dinner.” “But those messages…” “Those messages prove that if he comes back right now, he wins again.”
Teresa stood up. “He’s my son!” “He’s mine, too.” “Then act like a father.” That hit me. I walked over to her. “That is exactly what I’m doing. What you’re asking me to do is act like an accomplice.”
Teresa cried harder. But she didn’t open the door. For half an hour, we stayed there, with Daniel’s cell phone on the table, vibrating every few minutes like a trapped animal. Then another message arrived. “Mau: I’m outside the Oxxo. If you don’t bring cash, don’t even bother.” The Oxxo was four blocks away. Teresa stood up before I did. “Now you go.”
I didn’t go get Daniel to bring him back. I went because, even if a son becomes cruel, one doesn’t stop knowing that there are worse wolves out there. I walked down the stairs with my jacket on. Teresa wanted to come. “No,” I told her. “You’ve already done too much alone. Now it’s my turn to watch.”
The night in the Chicago suburbs was damp. It had rained a little, and the sidewalks glistened under the yellow streetlights. A bus with loud music roared past heading toward the L-train station, and a man was pushing a tamale cart, shouting that there were still green and sweet ones left. I walked to the corner. Daniel was in front of the Oxxo, sitting on one of his black bags. Still barefoot. His face red with anger. His pride shredded, but not defeated. Beside him was a skinny kid, black cap, oversized hoodie, and a nervous gaze. Mau. He saw me coming and smiled. “Good evening, boss.” “I’m not your boss.” Daniel stood up. “Did you come to beg me?” I looked at his dirty feet on the wet pavement. “I came for your phone.” His face changed. “Did you check it?” “Yes.” “That’s illegal.” “Stealing from your mother is too.”
Mau took a step back. “I’m not getting involved, man.” I walked up to him. “You are involved. You have messages asking him to sell my things and take money from my wife. If you want, we can continue this conversation with a patrol car.” Mau lost his smile. “It’s his problem. I didn’t put a gun to his head.” Daniel looked at him. “What?” “Yeah, dude. Don’t be a crybaby.” That was when he saw it. Maybe for the first time. The “friend” who called him “brother” as long as there was money just dropped him like a broken bag. Daniel swallowed hard. “Mau, no way.” “I don’t have anywhere to put you if you don’t bring cash.” Mau walked away quickly, looking back only once.
