Sofi shook her daughter hard, but when that didn’t silence Fe, she gave her a good slap as she had seen people do on T.V. lots of times whenever anyone got like that. But Fe didn’t quiet down. In fact, Fe did not stop screaming even when Sofi announced ten days later that she was going to get Tom. She decided to go personally to Tom’s house when he did not return her calls.

“I got a daughter who won’t stop screaming,” she told Tom’s mother, Mrs. Torres.

“I got a son who’s got susto,” Mrs. Torres replied.

“¿Susto? ¿Susto?” Sofi shouted. “You think that cowardly son of yours without pelos on his maracas has susto? I’ll show you susto! My daughter has been screaming at the top of her lungs for ten days and nights. She spent hundreds, maybe even a thousand dollars already on their wedding plans. She has people at work that she can’t even face no more. And let me tell you something, Mrs. Torres, don’t think that I don’t know that your son had her on the pill for a long time.”

“Wait, just a minute, señora,” Mrs. Torres cut in, holding up her hand. The two mothers, believe it or not, had never met before. Fe had been too ashamed of her family to bring Mrs. Torres over to her house. “My son … my son is a good boy. He hasn’t eaten for days, he’s just so upset about this breakup. But he said he had to do the honorable thing. He hasn’t cost your daughter nothing he himself hasn’t lost as well. What’s money when in the long run he spared her from an unhappy marriage? I don’t know why he changed his mind about marrying her. I keep out of my son’s business. Just be glad he left your daughter when he did. You know how men are …”

“Ay!” Sofi moaned, because she knew full well that that last remark was meant to hit below the belt regarding her own marriage, and thanks to Fe, she knew next to nothing about Mrs. Torres to come back with a good rejoinder. But finally Tom came out of his room and she convinced him to come over so that he might make Fe stop screaming.

“What’s that?” he asked, obviously spooked by Fe’s shrill cries that were heard from outside the house. “Is that La Loca?” He had heard of her, but had never met Fe’s so-called retarded sister. “Are you crazy?” Sofi said, unlocking the door. “That’s your girlfriend! Why do you think I brought you here? If I know Fe, she’ll snap out of it—maybe by you talking to her. We’ll see.”

But Tom stopped at the threshold. “I can’t go in,” he said. He looked nauseated. “I’m sorry, I just can’t.” And before Sofi could think of something to say to stop him, Tom was back in his car, smoking down the road. Damn, Sofi thought, seeing him speed away, maybe he does have susto.