TRAITORS (2 page)

“Oh don’t be funny!” she answered. “I have already manipulated them so I can go to tonight’s party. This celebration is something I will not miss out on. My mom, as always, helped me make something up. So I’ll be there!”

Zina was a pretty eighteen-year old girl and an outstanding student. She came from a wealthy family of Korean descent, the daughter of Tamara Lee, a housewife, and Jack Lee—an influential municipal councilor of San Fernando Valley who excelled in community leadership. But he had always opposed his daughter’s relationship with Luis. He preferred Zina to finish school before engaging in a serious romantic relationship.

Meanwhile, Luis was a great student and a great leader in his community recognized for his contributions in various school activities, as well as, for his great compassion and support in many other areas. He helped out in natural disasters such as hurricanes, both at home and abroad, by collecting disaster-relief goods to be sent by the American Red Cross.

The struggle to see his girlfriend was very complicated because Zina lived a little far from school. Although they were not members of the district, her parents had decided to enroll her at Sylmar High School. Despite several years of having a high rate of dropouts and having been a haven for vagrants and gang members, the school, at present during Zina’s time maintained a high level of academic performance. The school was also
Magnet
for Math and Science, meaning some students who had completed high school in another
Magnet
School
had the opportunity to enroll in any institution with the same characteristics—in accordance to their specialty. Because of this system, many students came from different parts of the Valley. Some even came from outside the city limits of the San Fernando Valley. Zina was no exception. She came from Encino, an upper middle-class city that was in the territorial limits of San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles. This would prompt Tamara, Zina’s mother to give her a ride to and from school most of the time, and on other occasions, her father would have the chore.

Everyone went home to get ready for the celebration. Zina enlisted the help of her mother and her best friend, Susan. Susan had gone to Zina’s to ask her parents’ permission to allow her to have a sleepover at her house. Her mother offered to take her that night and pick her up the following day. Her father agreed as he shouldn’t
be too strict because her grades in school were good. Although his greatest wish was for her to give priority to her studies, he knew that her social life shouldn’t be neglected.

Luis was full of praise. “I thought you weren’t coming, but I’m happy to see you, love. You look more beautiful than ever. I can just imagine all the difficulties that you must have gone through to be here.” “Anyway, let’s not waste time on things that don’t matter, and let’s just enjoy the party.”

The party was held at the house of Joe Gonzalez, the team’s coach, who assured the school and the parents that the celebration would take place peacefully and with no alcohol or drugs involved. He was also responsible for sending them home safely and early, since in some other parties, which involved students, things had gotten out of control due to lack of supervision.

Norberto Medina, Luis’ best friend, was at the party. Both were members of the Spartans and had joined the team at the same time. Due to their great friendship and dedication, they always made a good tandem in the team. Both spent much of their free time doing some extra practice together and sometimes, with other members of the Spartans. This helped them not only in terms of performance and camaraderie between the players, but also in planning game strategies.

Zina and Luis chatted and enjoyed making the most out of that night. They came up with plans for their future. Both were in their final year and were a few months away from graduating.

The two had decided which course they would be taking. Luis wanted to be a Computer Engineer and Zina wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps thus choosing Political Science.

Zina had been accepted into the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Luis, on the other hand, would not have the opportunity to directly enroll in a University as there was no financial aid available for undocumented students. He had to continue his education at a community college, (Mission College) while resolving his legal status—a process that kept him in limbo since family petition to change the legal status of applicants is a painstakingly slow process.

The couple made long term plans. Very much in love, they would marry after they finished school. The only thing that they needed was for time to pass to be able to realize their dream of being together for life.

“I would like a big family,” Luis said in a joking manner, knowing that she wanted a small one.

“Two is enough,” she said, “a boy and a girl. Well, whatever God wants. The only thing is that if it’s more, I’ll have to stay home,” she intoned letting out a cackle. “Be ready to have two jobs.”

After midnight, Norberto offered to take them home. After dropping off his girlfriend, Ximena, he set out to drop off Zina and Luis at Luis’ house so that he could take Zina to Susan’s house.

It was a full moon that night so, on the way to Susan’s, they decided to park for a while next to Carrizo’s Park, on Hubbard Blvd, and star gaze. As they contemplated the moon, they reminisced the very night they first met and were struck by love at first sight. With emotions still emerging, they chatted for a long while. Finally, under the moonlight, their bodies fused into one and they consummated their love with infinite tenderness. As if serving as a silent witness, the moon shined brighter than ever.

Adapting to A New Life
 

Luis Arriaga was a nineteen year-old fit athlete and an immigrant from the Mexican state of Jalisco. He migrated to the United States at the age of twelve, when his mother died. He always excelled in school and in life thanks to his strong charisma.

His older brother, Pablo, had migrated to the United States three years before him with the hope of a better life. Although he had worked since he was fifteen, the money was not enough to sustain a family, since they had lost their father some years ago leaving their mother as the sole breadwinner. The situation in the country was not at all promising, and it was almost impossible to support a family of five.

Upon arriving in the United States, Pablo settled with a good family who helped him find work quickly in the city of San Fernando. The family also helped him get into an English school that not only allows him to work and send money home but, also to prepare him for a better future. Pablo soon got used to life in the US. In the factory where he worked making orthopedic parts, he met Norma, a US citizen with whom he married after nearly two years of dating. Life soon paid off for Pablo and in 2000, he became a legal resident of the United States, thereby facilitating his position to further help his family—especially his mother, whose health had deteriorated from carrying such a heavy burden. Even though she received help from Pablo, she still had to keep working. That same year, she became bedridden with a terminal illness and died later that year. She left her younger children, twelve year old Luis and eight year old Maria, under the care of Grandma Andrea.

To fulfill his promise of caring for his siblings, Pablo decided to bring his brother Luis to the United States to guide and educate him, be a role model, and provide him a better life. He left Maria in the hands of their grandmother who was sixty-two years old. Pablo was also hoping to take them with him someday so that they can all live together again.

In late 2000, Luis came to the United States and lived with his brother Pablo and his wife Norma. He enrolled in Sylmar Middle School, where he quickly learned the language and began to achieve excellent grades. He had become an outstanding student even with the language barrier. Thus, the first year student had succeeded in achieving the best grades in his class.

In September 2001, everything changed not only for Americans but for the rest of the world. The most cowardly act in the history of the United States was perpetrated by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda and forever changed the lives of people inside and outside the country. The most affected were the immigrants living within the U.S. Any foreigner, especially if illegally here, was in danger of being unjustly accused. Not only that, this would also lead to a delay, and almost make it unthinkable, to enact legislation for the [massive] legalization of millions of immigrants already settled in the country.

In early 2002, the company Pablo’s worked for moved to another state. The couple decided not to follow the firm since they were already adapted to life in California. They knew it would be very difficult to start all over again as they would be leaving friends and family behind. It was especially true for Norma, most of whose family lived near them. Meanwhile, Pablo knew that Luis had already adapted to that city and it would be very hard for him to move again since he had already been through so many struggles at such a young age.

Norma and Pablo began looking for new job opportunities but were unsuccessful. This immediately resulted in the depletion of their savings. During their job search, they encountered the possibility of joining the Armed Forces. As a result of the 9/11 attacks, many opportunities to serve the country opened up. This gave them the chance to start a new career funded by the Government since recruits were trained in various areas and later, they could opt to specialize in their field.

Both were very interested and felt very optimistic. Norma was very close to her parents and siblings, and they immediately showed their unconditional support for them. The only thing that hindered them a bit was the fact that Luis lived with them. They had to leave their home since they would have to establish themselves on a military base. Pablo had to consider Luis’ welfare. He was absolutely responsible for his brother and they were both very attached. Luis had expressed his happiness living with him and he understood all the sacrifices that his brother had made not only for him but also for his family. Pablo was still supporting their grandmother and sister back in Mexico.

Luis was very mature and gave his unconditional support to Pablo and Norma. He told them that he would go live with Aunt Lupita, the cousin of their late mother and the only relative they had on this side of the border. The final word, of course, had to come from their aunt and her husband. Lupita and her husband were both working parents and had two children of their own: seven year old Marcos, and thirteen year old Andres who went to the same school as Luis. Understanding the situation and knowing that Luis was very responsible and a very good student who was not into drugs or friends of bad influence, they decided to help and lend their support.

Luis soon began to adapt to his new family and started participating in all their activities. The family was a member the local church, Santa Rosa de Lima. They regularly went to Sunday Mass in which Andres was a member of the church’s youth choir and was registered in the youth group to prepare him for confirmation. Luis also signed up with the group so they could go together. This made their friendship grow independent of their kinship.

The following year, Luis graduated from middle school and as expected, received high honors for his dedication and effort.

That night, after consummating their love, Luis and Zina began all the preparations for their high school graduation. It was no surprise to anyone, Luis would be the Valedictorian. He was loved not only for being a great athlete, but also for the support he had given the school in all areas, on top of being a member of the student council. He had always been a frontrunner every time any kind of help was needed. He was always willing to participate in civic and humanitarian acts such as the one, which occurred late last year when the disastrous Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana. Luis, along with the school’s student council, put in their grain of sand by participating in the process of humanitarian aid, in conjunction with the American Red Cross, to collect food supply and help with the distribution of food and clothing for the victims of that great disaster. He used his great charisma to provide help to his community and those who needed him. He was part of the support group in the reconstruction process.

He also participated in his parish activities forming teams to help people in need and attended to the homeless in downtown Los Angeles bringing them food and support. The plight of the homeless touched his heart every time they would talk to him about their situation and he understood their predicament.

Luis had been a constant and an intense participant in the demonstrations held in May of 2006’s pro-immigrant marches for he too was an immigrant. Despite being so young, the feeling of being undocumented was etched in his skin.

That afternoon, he did not receive any honors for his achievements simply for being undocumented. Despite this, he received a standing ovation from all students when he was named The Best Student of his generation. His grand prize was the love he received from all his fellow students.

During the event, Luis found the courage to speak to Zina’s parents and make their relationship official. Although not in total agreement, the girl’s father did not pose much opposition because his daughter had finished high school and had also received honors as an excellent student. He also had the courtesy to congratulate Luis for his recognition and questioned why he was not able to receive the honors, which he duly deserved. He also asked the two to see to it that they finish their courses first before taking further steps into their relationship since the top priority was having a good education.

The following day, there was a grand celebration in Aunt Lupita’s house since it was custom for all students to celebrate their last day together. Pablo assured Luis that he would continue to support him as far as he wanted to get, and although he was still enlisted in the Army, he would continue taking care of him and his family in Mexico. In the celebration was Norberto whom he had also graduated. Luis’ cousin was, of course, there too; he was just a year behind from finishing high school.