I stared guiltily into my coffee cup. Quitters never win and winners never quit. That fucking voice of my father in my head. Yes, I had thought of it. “You’re wrong. I wasn’t thinking of giving up.”

“You’re afraid.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are. ‘Cause you don’t know how to make it on the streets. That’s probably why you went to law school. So you wouldn’t have to get a real job.”

“I went to law school so I could help people,” I said angrily. That sounded so foolish, so unconvincing.

Lupe stood up from the table with a big grin on her face. “You been a big help to society so far. What’s your record, get three drunk drivers back out on the street again? Here’s your chance to do the right thing, something that really has to do with justice and equal rights, and you’re sitting on your behind.”

“Equal rights?” I mouthed stupidly at her.

“Goddamn right. Until there’s equal rights for hookers, whores, prostitutes, whatever you want to call us, no women are equal.” Lupe laid a ten-dollar bill on the table and gestured at the waitress as she walked toward the door. “That’s for you, honey.” She turned back to me. “Let’s go to the movies.”

“The movies? We’re in hiding, can’t you remember that?”

“What do you think we should do, sit around and stare at each other all afternoon? Besides, it’s Sunday and the movies are my church.”

“There’s a preseason football game on TV. Raiders and San Francisco.” I protested, but she just laughed and sauntered ahead of me with that hip-swinging walk.

We walked down the street to one of the mini malls that are spreading across the city like an ugly lesion, had an argument about what to see and finally settled, after much insistence by Lupe, upon a cop thriller.

“Maybe you can pick up some pointers from it.” Lupe said she didn’t have much cash with her and she asked me to pay for the tickets. Then she asked me to get her some popcorn and a diet coke. A weekend father gaped at her, ignoring his son, who was pulling on his arm. Even in the baggy T-shirt, her breasts were impossible to ignore.

“Some chocolate-covered raisins, too,” she said as the guy behind the counter was ringing up the popcorn.