Aria worked her way around the chunks of chicken to lift the large kernels of hominy onto her spoon. The broth was spicy, the tomato base disguised by the heavy flavor of oregano and the richness of the chicken fat that glazed the top of it. When Aria had finished what she could of the soup, she opened the little fluorescent orange package of Gansitos that Lolita had placed on the table in front of her. The smell of them reminded her of Hostess cupcakes. She bit into the synthetic sweetness, white sponge cake with a stripe of strawberry jelly and pastry cream coated in a film of chocolate and topped with chocolate sprinkles. She ate both of the cakes in the package, trying to savor the taste of them.

Watching her struggle with her drink, Lolita came over with an opener and popped the top off of the bottle of mandarin-flavored Jarritos soda. “Mija, let me do that,” she said, taking the metal cap with her to return to the table with Pedro and Consuelo.

It felt sinful to chase cake with soda. The bright food coloring and carbonation were unsympathetic against her tongue. The sweetness of it made her teeth hurt, but it tasted reassuring.

Aria felt like she had taken a turn down a street and wound up immersed in a completely different country. Had it not been for the specific situation that had brought her there, she imagined she would have been much less warmly welcomed. Her mind was not disquieted by the incident that had led to all of this. She was used to it. Violation was just an unlucky part of life and Aria felt like there was no point in dwelling on what could never be changed. Instead, she pretended to be on vacation. She tasted the foreign flavors and smelled the foreign smells. She let her eyes take in all the things in the store that she had never seen before.

Eventually, Pedro and Consuelo got up to leave. Aria didn’t know where they were headed to, maybe back to the Home Depot parking lot to see if they had missed their chance to land a job or not. Pedro paused after hugging Lolita, but before walking out of the door, he called out, “Hey Aria, you be careful eh?” as familiarly as if she were his sister.

“Thank you, guys,” Aria called back at him, extending her hand toward him in thanks through the air. Consuelo tipped the brim of his baseball hat and the two of them ducked out the door.