The Voting Machine

The Storms of Life

On the bus ride back to my motel room, I tried to protect myself from sinking into sadness. I wasn't lying when I told her I heard the call that we were meant to be together.

But I also wasn't naïve. I wasn't blind to the forces that attacked us. This is what must have happened to my parents. The hardness of the world destroys your marriage. It doesn't mean your love wasn't real. It just means the storms of the life were stronger. No ship is unsinkable. The world makes a mockery of your love; it makes it look tiny and pathetic, like a tsunami rising over the most beautiful boat you've ever seen.

Then I visualized Reina that day, trying to stand up when gravity pushed her back down on the picnic blanket ten times in a row. She never gave up. And I knew with that spirit someday she would start walking and running, farther and faster than I ever had.

We all had it in us to learn to do something tomorrow that we couldn't do yesterday. Why should Suzy and I be any different? We may not have been strong enough to keep things from falling apart. But that didn't mean we couldn't grow stronger tomorrow. We could become people who find the will to put things back together. Even if the hardness of the world had torn the ties of love, those ties could heal and strengthen and renew.

The more I thought about this, the more I believed it. I might have been crazy and delusional, but I wasn't going to give up. I hadn't set foot in a single casino during my time in Las Vegas and now I understood the reason why. This was the gamble I'd been waiting for. I was willing to take any risk to get my family back.

A rich man once told me about Pascal's Wager, the risk everyone takes if they choose to believe in God. Pascal talked about the costs and benefits of being a believer. If you bet on God's existence and it turns out you are right, the rewards were infinite. And if you reached the end of your days and found out your bet was wrong, Pascal argued that you were better off anyway.

My faith in Suzy and Reina would be my Pascal's Wager. I would believe that our love would reunite us. I would chase that goal with no regrets, regardless of the outcome. Success wouldn't come overnight, if it came at all. I would need to go back to Las Vegas and form a plan to change Suzy's heart and mind.

I was back at the extended stay motel, when I got the call from Paula.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Temo. I know this was your weekend back in LA. I couldn't get a hold of anyone else. I think David is still sick. And Annabelle went down to Victorville."

"What's up?"

"I am worried about Fatima. We signed up more voters outside Dollar Delight today. But I saw those men in the black pickup truck watching us from across the street, just like the time in front of the gas station."

"That means they're planning to bust up her store just like they did with Mr. Reddy. Did Fatima see them?"

"Yeah, that's the problem. She's expecting them. She and Ravi want to wait at the store tonight and catch them on video." Paula was crying as she spoke.

"Call the police."

"I did, Temo! They say they can't do anything. There's no crime yet. I don't know what to do. I am really scared something's going to happen."

"OK. Don't panic. Let me figure something out." I asked her for Fatima and Ravi's phone numbers and dialed them both a few times but there was no pickup. I wasn't sure about Ravi, but Fatima would know I was calling because I'd heard about her plan. There was no way she was going to let me talk her out of it. I was on her 'hypocrite list.'

I called Hernando and asked a favor.

"I need to borrow a car. It's an emergency."

"Temo, your license is suspended."

"I am not going to get caught, Hernando. Please, I need this one. How many times did I help you and your father? Remember when the S Gang wouldn't leave you alone? Who fixed that situation?"

Hernando knew I was right. He owed me big time. I explained to him why I needed the car. He insisted on coming to Vegas with me.

"I'll drive," he said. "This way we get you back there tonight and you don't have to risk going back to jail."

"This could be a messy situation when I get to Vegas."

"That's another reason I am want to join you. You're going to need help going up against these crackers."

He picked me up in his black Ford Fusion and we raced out toward the 15 Freeway. While Hernando drove through the high desert, I kept trying to reach someone on my cell. I called Annabelle, David, Ravi, and Fatima again and again.

By the time we arrived back in Las Vegas it was after midnight. We reached the intersection and I could make out the black pickup speeding west on Flamingo. It was too far ahead to make out the license place.

The windows of the Dollar Delight were shattered. The lights from the mall illuminated two bodies lying on the pavement next to a smashed video camera.

Ravi was crawling toward Fatima's motionless body.

"They hit her in the head with a rock," Ravi said, sobbing.

I stood over her blood-streaked face and patted gently on her shoulder. She was breathing softly. Her eyelids were fluttering. The pretty lavender streak in her hair was soaked in a crimson tide running from a gash where the rock had struck. She seemed to be hovering on the edge of consciousness.

"Don't fall asleep, Fatima. Don't fall asleep." I was panicked. I remembered a kid who was once knocked out with a concussion and fell into a permanent coma. Fatima opened her eyes in a dizzy, disoriented gaze. Then she recognized me and smiled.

"You told me not to do this, Temo."

"Don't think about that now, Fatima. We're going to get you to a hospital."

She touched the hair by her temple, feeling the blood with her fingers.

"It was worth it," she said.

"But they broke your camera," Ravi said.

Fatima pointed to her iPhone resting on her chest, hanging from a string around her neck.

"The camera was just a decoy. I filmed them on the iPhone. I got faces, license plates, everything. I even got a shot of them throwing the rocks at me."

"The video's inside the phone?" I said.

"Yes," she whispered. "It's already uploaded to YouTube. Everyone can see it on the Internet. Someone had to show them we are not afraid. Otherwise, history will never change."

Then Fatima closed her eyes and fell asleep. Her work for the night was finished.