The morning after she had been stood up by Garner, Maria awoke early and spent some time alone to reflect upon her life. She should never have put such stock in the cute Anglo boy and allowed him to make her feel so bad. She realized that her self-esteem should not be in the hands of other people. She should do what she thought was right and feel good about herself for being her own master. It was a liberating feeling. She decided at that moment that she should rise above the myriad of hurts and slights that she had experienced in her life. She would be compassionate and caring, but ultimately the only opinion that would matter to her would be her own. Then, taking advantage of this reflective mood, she set about to plan a new future for herself, a future that did not involve trying to fix the past. It was a morning of reinvention. And like the Phoenix that springs from its own ashes, a new Maria Theresa was about to be born from the ashes of her previous self.
Maria's cut of the settlement was much less than Shorty's because he was the lead attorney in the lawsuit. Nonetheless, the money she received was enough to keep her from having to work for many, many years. But that was not her plan. Maria did not put all that effort into getting through law school to just retire after her first really big case. Instead she made plans to settle her business in San Antonio and move on to a new life.
Her first order of business was to take care of her Uncle Julio.
"Chiquita, it is good to see you." Uncle Julio beamed. "You did very well in that case against the grocery store. It was in all of the newspapers."
It was well before noon and Maria thought she caught the smell of liquor on his breath, but she ignored it. She also thought that there was a subtle implication in his voice suggesting that she did not do nearly as well on his case. But she wasn't even an attorney then, so she ignored that too.
"I have some good news for you, Uncle Julio," she began. "I took some of the settlement money and bought your house."
Julio said nothing.
"I also bought a tool rental store that rents mainly to construction companies. Right now it looses money every month because the manager does not show up everyday to open the store. So I fired him. I would like you to take it over. When it becomes profitable you can use the profits to buy it from me."
Julio's jaw tightened and he would not look at Maria.
"What is the matter, Uncle Julio," she asked, having anticipated his reluctance.
"I don't need your charity, Maria. You are just doing this to make yourself feel better."
It was a stinging remark. Using her real name instead of her pet name put distance between them and he was challenging her motives in a very unkind way. But she had thought this through and was prepared to deal with it. After all, Julio had been out of work for many years and she had expected that his bitterness would grow.
"It isn't charity, Uncle Julio," she began. "Your settlement was very unfair against you. The HEB settlement was very unfair against the grocery store. I am just taking one unfair settlement to help make up for another unfair settlement." With that, she gave him the keys to the rental store and explained where it was located.
"It is a good location," he said shrugging reluctantly.
"I know this is hard for you, Uncle Julio," she said. "But you must pull yourself back together. This isn't about you or me. It is about fairness and setting things right. It is a lot for you to take in all at once, but I have a lot of faith in you."
Julio stared down at his hands and fidgeted with the two finger stumps. "I should have had more faith in you," he said with sadness.
"It's O.K. Uncle Julio. Life is not always fair but you do what you can to make up for it."
With that she got up to leave.
Julio looked up. There was a tear rolling down the side of his face. "Thank you, Chiquita," he said with a mixture of hope and shame.
"Don't thank me," Maria said. "It is up to you to make this store profitable."
The next morning Julio opened the store at 8 am.
Maria's next order of business was to have a celebration party at the Casa del Rio.
"The drinks and dinner are on us," Shorty spouted with exaggerated magnanimity to the dozen or so people seated around the table. They had reserved the party room and invited a mixed crowd of friends and colleagues. "But Maria has some even better news. Maria why don't you tell everyone what you have done."
Maria really wanted to wait for the right moment to offer her news, but Shorty had let el gato out of the bag and she decided to just roll with it.
"I have set up two trust funds for Mexican America women who were raised on the south side of town. One of the funds will provide scholarship money to UTSA for the two top valedictorians from south side high schools. The other fund will provide the money for law school for either or both of those valedictorians to go to UT Austin as long as they come back to San Antonio to practice."
The friends and colleagues around the table clapped politely and smiled.
"And the bad news is," Maria began, "I'm going to be leaving you. My future lies elsewhere and I will miss you all very much."
More than that, she would not say. She could not tell them that she felt that Garner was a con artist who had snookered HEB out of a lot of money because that would have compromised the case. She had no firm evidence of this and to say something would have been irresponsible; not to mention the fact that it might throw the case back into court.
But the concept of con men had captured her interest. People take advantage of corporations and corporations take advantage of people. But it is rarely cold and malevolent. It is always somebody doing the best they can in a bad situation. But con men - that was a different story entirely. Con men would take advantage of the weaknesses, often the humanity of other people and they would do it on purpose in a cold calculating way. Her new mission in life was to learn the ways of the con artist and thwart them in court whenever she could. The con man was the evil in the world. People and corporations were not evil. They were merely promoting different sets of values. But first, she would have to study con artists an their ways. And that was the new driving force in her life.
The party went on. The food was excellent and the beer and margaritas flowed smoothly. After several mugs of Dos Equis Maria got up to use the ladies room. On the way she passed the kitchen door where she nearly ran into Charlie the cook.
"Oh, Maria, how's the party going," Charlie asked blushing and looking down at his feet.
He seemed much smaller and less significant than the guy who used to try and catch her changing after her shift as a waitress. If fact, she felt sorry for him. She was entertaining important friends and he was still sunburned and knobby with a bad haircut and a cheap shirt.
"The food is terrific," Maria said. "Thank you for making my party so wonderful."
With that, she put a hand gently on each shoulder, leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Charlie stood up straight and looked almost human.
"Yeah, we put a lot of effort into it to make you look good for your friends," Charlie beamed.
"I know you did," Maria agreed. "And it shows. "The food is wonderful."
Charlie smiled and turned back to his business. There was a bounce in his step and Maria wondered why this sad little man had ever been a threat to her.
The party went on till well after closing but the staff from the Casa del Rio stayed to enjoy the celebration of the one who had been one of them. After midnight the waitresses, bartender and Charlie the cook all joined the party making it wilder and louder than it was before. But there was plenty of good feeling to go around for everybody and the party went on till the wee hours of the morning.
Finally, in the cab ride home Maria nodded off thinking about the one last thing that she needed to do in order to start her new life. She would nurse a hangover tomorrow, but the next day she would rise early and begin her new quest. She was no longer running from injustices. She was running towards them. And she was ready to meet them head on.