***
The next morning when Ellie and Seymour came downstairs at 7 a.m., the men were already gone. Claudia was dressed for her interview. The three children, who clung to her, ranged from five months to four years old.
“Please, come into the kitchen,” Ellie said to them as they lingered in the front hall.
Claudia introduced Rosanna, Miguel, and the baby Julio. Their last name was Flores. Ellie took Julio from Claudia and over the baby’s crying, she told Rosanna and Miguel to sit down for breakfast. Claudia looked forlorn.
“Seymour, sit with Rosanna and Miguel.” Ellie said, turning to Claudia who had tears in her eyes. “We’ll be fine. Buena suerte.”
Seymour distracted Rosanna and Miguel as their mother went out the door. He created a sock puppet and tried to speak to them in Spanish. When Seymour played with the children he seemed lighter, almost joyful. Perhaps he needed to live closer to their grandchildren.
***
After several weeks, Ellie prepared the Shabbat meal for all of them. Seymour passed out kippot to the men who removed their baseball caps to place them on their heads. With the help of the children, Ellie lit the candles, and in addition to the traditional prayers over the wine and challah, she thanked Hashem for bringing them all together in such a beneficial manner. Seymour said the shehecheyanu prayer for their first Shabbat together. Delighted with the challah, Rosanna and Miguel pulled the warm bread braids as if they were pulling taffy at a carnival and gave some to Julio, who sucked on it.
Ellie remembered Shabbat dinners when her children lived at home. Everyone grateful for the food, family, and Hashem. How many years had it been since she experienced this gratitude within her own family? She blinked back her tears.
Ellie and Seymour didn’t watch television on Shabbat. Instead, they had taught their new family and the men how to play board games and cards. Even the children looked forward to the games.
***
Seymour got along especially well with Carlos. He also liked the other two men, who were mastering the candle-making business. They laughed a lot, mostly over misused words, and Seymour seemed to relax about their money concerns. Carlos fixed a bathroom faucet that had leaked for a year and pruned back several overgrown trees in the backyard. The boarders’ payments helped with the mortgage. Soon Ellie could start to pay Lawrence back.
When Ellie told Lawrence that a family had been living with them for two months, he insisted on checking this out. Lawrence’s plane had been on time. Seymour parked the car and popped the trunk. Lawrence followed his parents into the house.
Carlos and Claudia and their three children stood in the hall. After Ellie introduced them Lawrence walked around the house like some kind of home inspector, nodding his head, but not saying much. Lawrence had to recognize that between Carlos’s handiwork and Claudia’s housekeeping, the house looked better than ever.
“Did Dad tell you he plans to sell the candles with Carlos at Hanukah fairs in Valley synagogues next month?” Ellie said.
“No, but he did tell me that Carlos had sold quite a few Día de los Muertos candles to stores on Olvera Street.” Lawrence pouted his lips just like his father did when he was worried. “Mom, tell me more about this agency.”
She poured out three cups of coffee.
“Lawrence, have we asked you for money since Claudia and Carlos moved in? No. I think we have managed to create a symbiotic relationship here.” Ellie handed him an envelope. “As a matter of fact, here.”
“What’s this?” Lawrence counted out ten $100 bills. “Mom, you don’t have to pay me now. Wait till you get back on your feet.”
“We’re on our feet,” Ellie said. “Besides, this should reduce the tension we’ve all been feeling.”
Lawrence looked at her. Ellie stroked his arm to calm him.
“At first we just wanted their money, but now we think of them as family,” Seymour said, ignoring the recent exchange.
“How long do you think they’ll stay?” Lawrence said.
“As long as they want,” Ellie said. “Things couldn’t be any better.”
Lawrence frowned. He walked across the room, his back to them. She wanted to comfort him, but she kept her distance. When he turned around he said, “You’re not angry at me for not loaning you any more money, are you?”
“Son, like we told you, everything’s worked out,” Ellie said. “Give the money to your wife. Okay?”
Lawrence went to stay at a friend’s since the children slept in his old room. Although Ellie felt a little guilty, she slept well that night.
***
Seymour and Ellie were looking forward to celebrating the holidays with their new family. Christmas fell on the sixth day of Hanukkah this year. Ellie had shown Claudia how to make potato latkes. The children loved them with applesauce, whereas Juan and Guillermo ate them with sour cream. Claudia and Carlos preferred both. Rosanna and Miguel took turns filling the menorah with the candles the men had made, lighting them from left to right, and adding an additional one every night.
Ellie and Seymour couldn’t bring themselves to have a Christmas tree in their home. But they had bought presents for the children. Ellie had even gotten little things for the adults. Ellie hadn’t had a chance to ask Claudia if they wanted to receive their presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Everyone had been so busy lately. Like ships passing in the night.
Seymour and Ellie returned from a Hanukkah party around 8:00. No one was home. Usually, the baby was in bed by 8:00 p.m. Where could they be? And why all the lights on?
“Maybe they left in a hurry to see the holiday decorations,” Seymour said. “Everyone’s a little loco this time of year.”
“Seymour, something’s wrong.” Ellie said upon entering the kitchen. “There is still food on the table, half eaten, and a cold pan on the stove with a rock-hard quesadilla in it.” She placed her hand on the counter for support. “Go, look in the bedrooms.”
Seymour went upstairs, then rushed down saying, “Except for the lights on and one of the closet doors left open, the bedrooms look normal.”
“Let’s look out back — in the garage,” Ellie said.
Ellie stayed close to Seymour as they made their way out towards the garage. The door was ajar. They pushed it open farther and saw candles strewn on the floor and the men’s beds although made were wrinkled as if someone had been jumping on the covers. Ellie hugged Seymour.
“What do we do?” Seymour asked.
“We wait.” Ellie pulled away and tried to sound nonchalant. But inside she panicked at the thought that any of them had been harmed. Seymour collected and inspected the candles for damage while Ellie returned to the house to clean up the kitchen.
The doorbell rang half an hour later. Ellie hoped that they had left in such a hurry they forgot their keys. She couldn’t wait to hear the kids’ noises all at once. Seymour answered the door.
“Of course, come in,” Seymour said. “Ellie, the Shapiros are here!”
Ellie’s heart sank. Not the nosy neighbors. She hurried into the front hall.
“Harriett, Eddie, can I get you some tea or coffee?” Ellie said.
“We can’t stay. Sorry to bother you, but we thought you should know what happened while you were out,” Harriett said, standing beside her husband, Eddie. “We were coming home from grocery shopping when we saw a white van pull up in front of your house and two men came out with navy windbreakers that said ‘ICE POLICE’.”
“ICE? What’s ICE?” said Seymour, looking to Ellie for an explanation. She looked at the Shapiros.
“I looked it up on the computer. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Police,” Eddie said. “First, the ICE men banged on the door. Then, they hopped the fence in back. Finally, we heard shouting, then nothing.”
Ellie heard her chest pound and felt the sweat under her arms.
“About 15 minutes later, the officers led three men and a woman and their children down the porch stairs and into the van,” Harriett said. “The children were crying, the men were handcuffed and the woman held the baby.”