Chulito by Charles Rice-Gonzalez Page B

him for hitting Jennifer. He wondered if his own father ever expressed such remorse after hitting his mother. If so, Chulito never saw it. He mainly remembered his father’s anger, depression and drunkenness. And the times his father hit Carmen, he would always leave the house in a rage.
    Brick put his head on his knees and held himself with his strong arms, sobbing and shaking, no one dared to touch him, not even Julio.
    “I can’t believe I hit her, Julio. I can’t believe that shit. I broke my promise.” He looked up at Julio, his eyes were red and tears dripped off his chin and made small spots on his T-shirt next to the blood stain. Brick saw Chulito watching him and covered his face.
    Chulito wanted to do something. He went to the water cooler and got some water for Brick. Julio smiled at Chulito, took the water and gestured for him to leave.
    A police car pulled up to the travel agency and the crowd dispersed as quickly as it had assembled.
    The fellas swarmed Chulito as he came down the block.
    “Yo, what happened?” Davey asked, licking his lips.
    Chulito shrugged and continued to walk toward the corner with the fellas. He was too stunned by what he’d witnessed and the look of horror on Brick’s face to speak to anyone.
    “She shouldn’t have mouthed off like that to him,” Papo said.
    “What you talking about?” Chin-Chin asked. “A man never hits a woman. Didn’t your mother teach you that, Papo?”
    “Not unless she deserves it. A chick like Jennifer needs to be smacked down, especially if she’s disrespectin’ you out on the street and shit,” Papo answerd.
    “Yo, the cops are in Julio’s place,” Looney Tunes said as he ran over to them. “Do you think they gonna arrest Brick?”
    “They could, if Jennifer presses charges,” Chin-Chin said.
    “She won’t,” Papo said. “She loooves him. And besides they have kids.”
    Chulito noticed Carlos walking down Hunts Point Avenue and enter the pizza shop. I dig you, and not like when we were kids. That phrase was on constant replay in his mind.
    “Did you see the way he hit her?” Davey asked.
    “That shit was foul,” Chin-Chin said shaking his head. “I got heated when I saw that.”
    Papo noticed Chulito’s silence. “Yo, Chulito, you O.K.?”
    He’d been staring at the doorway to the Bella Vista Pizza Shop way down the block. “I’ll be right back fellas. I’m gonna get a slice.”
    “Yo, bring one back for me,” Looney Tunes yelled as Chulito jogged across the street.
    As he reached the pizza shop, Chulito’s heart raced, his mouth got dry and his footsteps became slower. On cue, Catalina came out of the nail salon, next door to the pizza shop and intercepted him.
    “Hey, Chulito, you finally coming around to see me?” She smiled and looked dark and beautiful in the orange glow of the sun. “I haven’t seen you since you went out with the fellas and I know I was pretty pissed then, but I’m ready to talk to you now.”
    “Wow, Catalina, you look great.” Chulito walked toward her and as he passed the pizza shop, he looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Carlos sitting at the counter eating a slice.
    Chulito adjusted the baseball cap to block the setting sun out of his eyes, but he knew pulling down the hat made him look sexier. “I’ve been busy and giving you your space. I called you, right?” They stepped away from the entrance to the nail shop and Chulito positioned himself so that he could face Catalina and watch the doorway to the pizza shop.
    “I got your messages.” She looked beneath his hat brim to see his eyes.
    “I meant what I said about wanting to go out with you for my birthday. I just didn’t know the fellas had made that big surprise, and then like I said, I’ve been busy with Kamikaze. But maybe we could go out in a few days or I could take you shopping?” Chulito flashed a smile. He was on automatic pilot. Like many of the fellas, he knew when to smile and how to look seductively into